

BRANDED

By K.L. Hawker

BRANDED

Copyright © 2012 K.L. Hawker

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission by the author.

Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Branded / K.L. Hawker

ISBN-13: 978-0-9917257-1-7

Cover Design by Conrad Visual Concepts

www.facebook.com/klhawker

www.klhawker.com

For Austin, my inspiration.

Elephant shoe.

"And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one." ~ Matthew 6:13

#  Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Introduction to Stranded

Acknowledgments

About the Author

#  **Prologue**

**I clutched my** stomach as we weaved in and out of traffic along the freeway, my mouth dry and eyes wide with fear of the unknown.

"Please slow down," I grumbled, knowing she wouldn't listen, but if she paused to consider my words, it just might create a decrease in acceleration.

"We're already going to be late as it is," she answered calmly, passing another car. "I think I'll use the carpool lane."

"We're not carpooling," I pointed out.

"Technically we are. You're going to school and I'm going to work." She smiled at me sweetly.

"I'm your daughter. It's not carpooling, it's parenting."

Mom laughed. "How are you feeling now? Any better?"

"I still feel sick. Can we please go home?"

"Is this about Ryan, honey?" Mom asked, in the annoying way that only a mother could.

"No, Mom," I interjected. "You know, just because I have a boyfriend doesn't mean that every time I feel sick, he caused it."

Mom nodded slowly. "I suppose you're right. Then it's about your dream?"

I turned and stared out my window. The dream itself was horrifying enough, I didn't need to recount it and deal with my mother's ambivalence to the same.

"Dreams can be scary, sweetheart, I get that, but you can't stay home just because you think the sky is going to start falling down around you."

"It's not the sky," I mumbled.

The overpass was up ahead, in plain view now. My knees were drawn to my chest and I was breathing heavily into them. Mom reached out and gripped my knee. "Are you okay?" she said, her concern now apparent. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I tried to catch my breath.

"Geez, honey," Mom said as she slowed the car down and pulled in behind a slow moving car. "Just breathe, honey. It's okay."

I knew what the loud thud was without having to look. I knew it was a chunk of concrete from the above overpass. I knew it had just fallen and split apart into several smaller pieces. Cars began swerving around the broken concrete. I knew the colors of the cars without looking. I knew which ones would make it and which ones wouldn't.

"Pull over!" I shouted between sobs.

Mom was clutching the steering wheel now as we neared the overpass. Her speed was reduced, and she was met with annoyed drivers behind her, honking and hollering at her to get out of the way. And then, right there in front of our eyes, and above a half dozen vehicles, and below a dozen more, the overpass heaved, groaned and crumbled as it collapsed. Just as I had seen it a few hours before while I slept.

While others were screaming, panicking and racing from their vehicles, Mom was smiling. "You're gifted with Prophecy!"

Yes, it would seem that this tragic incident confirmed that her sixteen-year-old daughter had finally found her gift. And although it wasn't what she had hoped or imagined, there was never a mother more thrilled to have a prophet for a daughter.

**Now that I** was a Gifted One, I had no choice but to break up with Ryan. I knew he would be heartbroken, but it was the only way. Gifted Ones weren't supposed to get romantically involved with the ungifted. It was too dangerous as there would be no way for him to protect himself from the Defiers.

As expected, it didn't go over well. As controlling as he was, the mere fact that he had no control over this situation sent him into a tailspin. He showed up at my door every morning and every night—sometimes with a dozen roses, sometimes with my favourite take-out food, and once with a ring as he begged me to marry him. Whenever I turned him away, he would tear out of the driveway, peeling rubber as he went. He was angry. I knew that, but there wasn't anything I could say or do. The more time I spent away from him, the more I realized how smothering he had become over the last couple of months. I began feeling guilty that I was enjoying my time apart from him.

One evening as we sat on my doorstep—him begging for an explanation for why I wouldn't take him back, and me dying inside a little bit more each time he asked—I finally caved. I told him about my gift. Mom would not be happy; I broke the number one rule of secrecy.

" **Mom?" I called** into the kitchen one morning as I came down for breakfast. "I had another dream."

Mom sat up straight and pulled a chair out next to her. "What is it?"

"There are Gifted Ones on the East Coast that haven't been discovered yet. One of them holds a power so strong that could change the world."

"What are their gifts?" she asked.

"One is a healer with great potential. The other is fuzzy. I don't know. I just know that the two are close friends. We will find them together."

Mom drilled me for all the details and when I had finished, she said, "Pack your things. We're moving to the East Coast."

"What? But what about my friends? Can't we finish this school year first? Why do we have to move there? Can't we just go visit first?"

"You've done too much damage telling Ryan about your gift," she said pointedly, still harbouring a tone of resentment.

"We can't just up and move across the continent just because of that, Mom." I was standing now, making my point loud and clear. "He won't tell anyone," I promised.

"My sources tell me that he's been doing a lot of research on Gifted Ones. You should not have told him."

"I know, Mom. I wasn't thinking. I just wanted him to stop asking why."

She ignored my reasoning and stared at me with such intensity that I knew what she was doing. She was manipulating my thoughts.

"Mom, don't!" I warned as my reasons became clouded and my memories fogged. Don't what? I asked myself. She's right. We have to go. For the good of mankind. To find these Gifted Ones before the Defiers do.

"We'll need to move at night, and leave no trace behind," she said.

"Of course." I nodded. Because she was right.

#  **Chapter 1**

" **What's the deal?** Is her flight on time?" Noah called out as I studied the large arrivals screen overhead.

"Supposed to have landed a few minutes ago." I checked my watch and stuck my hands back in my pockets, watching the people as they began hovering around the arrival doors.

"Did you miss her?" Noah teased, giving me an annoying shove to the side.

"Whatever," I laughed. "She's like a sister to me, man." I thought back to Christmas Day when Anna had told me she would be leaving to spend the next few months with her parents in Africa. A wave of emotions was triggered by her announcement. At first I was excited for her because I knew how much she had missed her parents since they left last summer to build a community in Africa, but then I felt a shot of disappointment as I knew I would miss her. She always knew how to make fun out of nothing, and only living three doors down, I could count on her to keep me company on short notice to watch a late night flick or go for a canoe ride across the lake to our secret island. So maybe I missed her a little. That didn't mean I was crushing on her. That would just be plain weird.

"What are you smiling about?" Noah's voice penetrated my thoughts.

I shrugged it off and pretended to check my phone for new e-mails. Texts. Missed calls. Something.

"Jake, I'm your best friend, remember? I can see right through you."

"So what's the deal with you and Lexie these days?" I said, squinting toward the arrival doors and hoping for a conversation change.

Noah scrunched his eyebrows and sucked in a breath, puffing out his chest—a sign that he had no idea how to answer the impending question.

"What are you waiting for, man? She's hot. She likes you. What's the problem?"

"I don't know." Noah shrugged. "She's alright. Still scoping out the new talent at school."

I laughed. "Is that seriously what you're waiting for? You're afraid you'll commit to her, and then you'll meet someone new?" I shook my head. "That's not likely to happen this far into the school year. It's almost April, man. You should just give Lexie a chance."

Noah answered with a smirk. "You're not one to give relationship advice, dude. You've had the perfect girl right in front of you for the past three years and you're too blind to see it."

"Okay," I gave in, "even if Anna is the perfect girl, what makes you so sure she thinks I'm the perfect guy?"

"Oh, please, like you haven't seen it." Noah kept his eyes on the big glass doors ahead of us.

"Seen what? What do you mean?"

"The way she looks at you? The way she drops plans with her friends when you call? The fact that she hasn't had a boyfriend since she met you?"

"She has so," I defended. "What about that Clinton kid in grade nine?" I realized how stupid that sounded the moment it left my lips. "And she went on a couple of dates with Eric last year." I shuddered at the mention of his name. Eric was all about one thing and one thing only, and because Anna was the only girl that didn't drool when he walked in a room, the thrill of the catch kept him interested. I wished he'd give up on her.

"And that's it," Noah finished for me. "A chick as cute as Anna should have had dozens of boyfriends by now."

"She's had lots of guys ask her out," I reminded him.

"And she's said no to them all, why?" Noah raised his eyebrows. "You, dude."

I closed my mouth. He was probably wrong anyway, but it was an intriguing thought.

"This must be her flight," Noah announced, taking a few steps toward the gathering crowd.

My heart began to pound louder and my mouth felt like the dry African plains. We watched droves of people slowly descend the escalator, filter through the doors and head toward the luggage belt. Just when it looked as though the last of the passengers had arrived, I noticed a familiar brown, sticker-plastered suitcase coming down the escalator, followed by tanned legs in a white tennis skirt, a curvy yellow tank top, silky blonde hair and the warm smile I had been missing for the last three cold months. There was no question about it—Anna was different.

"Wow," was the only word that slipped from my lips.

"Does this change anything?" Noah jabbed his elbow into my side. "'Cause if not, can I call dibs?" He left my side and headed to meet Anna.

"Shut-up, man," I said, keeping my eyes on Anna as she walked through the doors and toward Noah, who lifted her into the air.

What had Africa done to her? She was all grown up and so different. And as hard as I tried to fight it, I was drawn to her in such a weird way. It felt unnatural and natural all at the same time.

"You look fantastic, Anna," Noah said.

"You too," Anna's sweet voice responded. She sounded more refined and mature. "Look at you. You must have grown six inches."

"That's what lots of rain will do to you," Noah teased.

Anna's smile faded as she looked down. "Where's Jake? He didn't come?"

I stepped away from a small group of people. "Did you think I'd bail on you?"

Anna spun around and the elated expression on her beautiful face nearly knocked me over. Where was sweet, little Anna? Who was this woman in front of me?

Her eyes scanned me up and down and her cheeks turned a rosy pink. I loved how her face betrayed her feelings.

"It must have rained a lot here," she said as she left Noah's side and smoothed her hair.

"You look great, Anna," I said, innocently studying her new figure. "It's good to have you home. How was your flight?"

She skipped toward me and wrapped her warm arms around my waist. I took in a deep breath of her lavender-scented skin, which reminded me, if only for a second, that she was too familiar to find attractive.

"Flight was fanificent! No turbulence or anything. And it feels so good to be home." She held on tighter.

"What did you say?" I pulled away and studied her bronze face.

"It's great to be home?"

"No, you said your flight was fanificent?"

Anna laughed and nodded. "Yeah, it's my new word. Do you like? It's a combination of fantastic and magnificent."

"Still making up your own words and definitions for things, I see. Guess some things never change."

Noah trailed Anna's luggage behind him as he slowly headed toward the luggage belt. "Do you have more bags coming?"

I laughed, "Did you honestly think Anna Taylor could go away for three whole months and only have a carry-on?"

Noah smacked his forehead. "What was I thinking?"

Anna ignored my comment and said, "I have three more pieces, Noah. They all match that one."

Noah looked down at the battered luggage. "When you say 'match,' do you mean they're all ugly?"

"Hey!" Anna slapped his arm. "Don't knock the luggage. Those have gone all over the world with me."

"Maybe Santa will bring you a nice, new pink set next Christmas," Noah teased as he walked toward the conveyer belt.

I shook my head and snickered, "He sure doesn't know you, does he?"

"Pink!" Anna scoffed. "Like I'd be caught dead toting pink lug . . ." Her voice trailed off and her face turned red as she tried to bury it in my shirt.

"What?" I laughed, looking around. Then I saw her. A tall, pretty girl about our age walking past with high heels and . . . pink luggage.

"I don't think she heard you," I whispered.

Anna covered her laughter. "She totally heard me."

"Not possible," I said. "She had to have been a good ten feet away."

"Me and my big mouth," Anna laughed.

"Well, it's not like you know her, and you'll probably never see her again, so don't worry about it."

Anna pulled away from me, leaving a cold draft in her place. "You've always been good for that," she said. "Making me feel good about my mistakes."

"It's a good thing too because you make a lot of 'em."

Anna's mouth fell open as she pushed me aside. "Jerk!"

"Miss me?"

"Oddly, yes," she admitted, and then wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her head against my chest. "I definitely missed you."

Immediately, I felt slightly embarrassed. It wasn't uncommon for Anna to snuggle up to me, but this time it made me nervous. What was happening?

She pulled away and studied my face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just different having you back, that's all."

She stared at me blankly for a second then quickly looked away. "You're right. It's different. Sorry."

What did I do? It wasn't that I didn't want her to be cuddly, or maybe it was. I couldn't explain it. I felt different now with her, and I didn't want it to ruin our perfect friendship. This was all Noah's fault. I hoped she couldn't tell what I was thinking.

"So, do you have a girlfriend?" she asked as she pulled a pale yellow sweater from her carry on and slid it on.

"Don't you think I would've told you that in my e-mails?"

"I would've thought, but maybe not." Her tone suggested she didn't want to hear it if it were true, anyway.

"I don't have a girlfriend," I answered honestly. I looked up at Noah who was dutifully watching the luggage going around. "But you know, there's lots of girls out there so we'll see."

It was a stupid thing to say, but I was desperate to get the awkwardness out of the air and bring things back to the way they were supposed to be between us—me dating girls and her giving advice.

Anna bit her lip and produced a small grin. "One can only hope, right?"

**On the drive** home Anna sat up front with me, while Noah sat in the back seat with his head between us. He and Anna talked the whole time about her trip, most of which she had told me through her periodic email updates. But this was different. This time I got to hear her voice. Her sweet, energetic, calming voice.

"You were quiet," Anna said after we dropped Noah off at his house. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I lied, keeping my eyes on the road.

"Jacob Rovert, do you think we just met yesterday? You are the worst liar ever!"

"I'm not lying," I lied again.

"Then why are you chewing on your bottom lip?"

I quickly released my lip and gave her my best 'confused' look.

"Okay, fine." She threw her arms up in defeat. "If nothing's bothering you, then I'll just see you tomorrow at school."

"Don't be mad, I'm just tired." I pointed at the clock on my dash to confirm it was nearly two o'clock in the morning and I had every right to use it as an excuse.

"Okay," Anna allowed, "but tomorrow you better not be tired."

After a moment of silence, I finally got the nerve to say, "So, you've changed a lot. Africa was good to you."

Anna looked down at her arms, rotating them in the moonlight. "You like the tan?"

Among other things. "Yeah, I'm envious."

"My hair grew fast over there too. I couldn't wash it every day like I do here, and apparently that's good for your hair. Who would've thought?" Anna pulled her hair out from her sweater. "Feel it?"

I hesitantly reached over and entangled her hair in my fingers. It was smooth, like silk. It slowly slipped from my fingers and fell onto her shoulder. I wanted to pick it up again, pull her face into mine and . . . Wait! What the hell? I quickly retracted my hand and let it rest on the steering wheel. "Nice," I mumbled.

Anna tucked her hair back in and zipped up her sweater. "Hard to get used to the cold here."

"I bet." I clenched my jaw and tried to convince myself that it was just going to take some time to get things back to normal with Anna. She was like a sister. I had known her since grade eight. We used to catch frogs together and race our bikes down the hill at the park . . . she was not girlfriend material.

I wondered what she was thinking. Did she think I was being rude? Could she tell I was having a hard time being around her right now? Did she feel the same way?

When I couldn't bear the silence anymore, I looked over and found her tracing a circle on her leg with her finger, and smiling.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

She began laughing, making it very clear that she wasn't upset with me. "You're so adorable, Jake."

"Why?"

"You're acting all weird and stuff."

"Okay?" I said, confused. "And that's adorable, why?"

"I don't know. It reminds me of when we first met and you were so shy."

"I was not!"

"Yes, you were." She poked me in the ribs. "And you know it."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "I guess some things never change."

"How so?"

"You're still stubborn," I laughed.

"Whatever," she said with feigned disappointment. Then she chuckled. "I missed this. I hope tomorrow things are normal again."

"They will be," I assured her.

"Promise?" she asked, reminding me of our solemn vow when we were fourteen to never break a promise.

"Promise." I smiled.

"Best friends?" She held out her pinky.

I hooked mine with hers and said, "Just don't tell Noah."

"He's got nothing on me," she laughed.

You got that right.

#  **Chapter 2**

**I was running**. Faster and faster, until the trees were a blur and my legs felt like they were on fire. Ahead in the distance I could see a clearing through the trees and someone was standing in the middle. As I got closer, the figure started to glow. Her long hair blew in the wind and her silky white dress clung to her perfectly sculpted body.

She was an angel—a picture of absolute perfection. She reached out to me and that's when I knew that my purpose was to save her. From what, I didn't know. Suddenly, my legs became so heavy that I could no longer move them. The angel's smile quickly faded and she began screaming a heart-wrenching cry for me to help her. I fought with all of my strength to get to her, but I couldn't. Then, a figure of black darkness galloped across the field toward her. Silence fell over the angel and her face mirrored horrific fear. As I stood helpless, the black darkness absorbed her.

"NOOO!" I screamed, breaking loose from the invisible hold. My eyes adjusted to the darkness and I found myself standing in the middle of my bed, dripping with sweat and gasping for air. It was another nightmare. My blankets were thrown across the room, in the same way I usually found them after having this recurring dream.

I checked the time and cringed when I saw that it was only three o'clock in the morning. I still had more dark hours, and possibly more horrible dreams, to endure.

Why was I having these horrible dreams? I knew if I told my mother, the self-proclaimed "dream reader," she wouldn't hesitate to offer her interpretations of them, but something told me I wouldn't want to know anyway. I laid my head back down and closed my eyes, trying hard to rid my mind of the awful images.

**My curtains were** closed all but an inch where the sun shone in and splashed a beam of warmth onto my face. I forced one eye open and then another as the fog in my head slowly cleared. Mom and Abby were scurrying around getting Abby ready for school. I flipped over and checked the time—seven thirty-eight. Crap! I forgot to set my alarm. I hopped out of bed, jumped into the shower and got ready for school.

"You're running late," Mom noticed as I rushed into the kitchen and threw a bagel into the toaster.

"Uh-huh," I agreed.

"How was Anna's flight? You got her home okay?" Mom poured a glass of orange juice and set it down on the table in front of me as she planted a quick kiss on my head.

"Flight was good. She's home safe and sound."

"How is she?"

"Fanificent," I answered without thinking.

"Fan what?" Mom asked.

"She's great." I smiled.

"I'd love to hear about her trip and see pictures, so make sure she comes over soon, okay?" My bagel popped and Mom told me to sit while she buttered it for me.

"Do you think you could drop Abby off at school for me today?" Mom asked as she placed the bagel down in front of me.

"Why? Did she miss her bus?"

"No." Mom leaned in and lowered her voice. "I think she's a little nervous to take the bus today for some reason. She suddenly has a tummy ache and is trying to convince me that the bus ride will make her sick."

"Are you serious?" Although Abby was usually no trouble, and I knew she'd do anything for me if I asked, I was really looking forward to the drive to school alone with Anna today.

"Please?" Mom begged, which she hardly ever did. "I'd take her myself, but I'm not even dressed yet and I have a doctor's appointment in an hour."

As nice as it was that Dad's job took him away each week from Monday to Thursday, it had its drawbacks too. I was now the man of the house and felt the weight of having to take care of Mom and Abby while he was gone. It was only Wednesday, so Dad was still not scheduled to be home until the following evening.

I sighed. "Fine," I agreed as I pulled out my phone and dialed Anna's number.

"Thanks, tiger." Mom kissed my head again and scurried out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Hi," Anna answered in a delightful voice that reminded me of a bird chirping.

"Hey, you almost ready? I'm running a bit late and we have to drop Abby off at school, but I can be there in about ten minutes."

"Actually, Lexie just showed up. She wants me to ride with her today. I figure it'll give us some time to catch up. Is that cool with you?"

What? "Oh, yeah, sure—that's cool," I lied. "See you at school then?" An emptiness suddenly plagued my stomach.

"Tell Abby I'll see her soon," Anna added before I hung up. "I have something for her from Africa. I think she'll like it."

"What'd I get?" I teased.

"Me," she giggled, making my heart do something strange and fluttery. "Aren't you lucky?"

How should I answer that? Strangely, I did feel lucky to have her.

"I was kidding," she said, reminding me that I had left an air of awkward silence.

"I know, sorry, I was just thinking about something." I'm such an idiot!

"I'll see you at school," she said before hanging up.

What was going on? Why did I get tongue-tied talking to her? We were used to talking for hours on end about nothing. Why was I suddenly nervous to see her again?

"I'm ready," Abby called from the front entry, sounding a lot like a faker.

"Feeling better?" I teased as I met her in the hallway and gave her a little jab to the stomach.

She pulled away quickly and put her serious face on. "Hey! Don't mess with the look!" She straightened her outfit and fixed her hair.

"Come on, you faker." I pushed her out the door and chased her to my car.

**I pulled up** next to Noah's car just as he was getting out and we walked the path to the school together.

"Where's Anna?" he asked casually.

"She's coming with Lexie," I answered with as much indifference as I could muster.

"I didn't see Lexie's car, so I don't think they're here yet," Noah said. With this new information, I stopped searching for her and focused on the school which was getting closer.

"So how did last night go after you dropped me off?" Noah asked, nudging me slightly.

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. "Listen, man, you have got to stop talking like that. You're messin' with my head and it's not cool."

Noah held his hands up. "Sorry! But seriously, it's bothering you for a reason, dude."

"Apology accepted," I said, ignoring his follow-up.

"Hey, gents!" The annoying voice of Eric Hartlen echoed across the parking lot. He jogged over to us as Noah and I both let out a simultaneous groan.

"What's up, Eric?" Noah said. I just nodded.

"Big party this weekend, boys!" Eric pushed his way between us and slung his arms over our shoulders.

"Oh yeah?" I said, uninterested and annoyed with his cocky presence.

"Wentworth Lodge. My parents scored us some rooms for the last official ski weekend of the season," he bragged. "It's gonna be rockin'!"

We had spent many weekends at Wentworth after Eric's parents bought the ski lodge a few years back. That's where most of us learned how to ski and snowboard. All of our trips were next to free because of Eric's connections, which was one of the few things that Eric was good for.

"Who's going?" Noah asked.

"Monica and Tyler, Lexie, you guys, and I'll ask Anna when she gets here. She's back now, right?"

"Got back last night," Noah said. "She's coming with Lexie today. They should be here soon."

"So you coming or what?" he pressed.

It was a tough one to answer as it was honestly going to come down to whether or not Anna was going. My mind was still on her and on figuring out why I couldn't stop thinking about her.

Noah nodded. "Sure, I'm in."

We sat down on our usual benches, along the school wall, facing the football field. Eric kept talking about the Wentworth weekend and how much fun it would be.

A few irritating minutes later, Lexie's car pulled into the parking lot. I stiffened as Noah nudged me. "Nervous?"

"No!" I snapped. "Shut-up about it, would ya?"

The girls got out of the car and slowly walked toward us, apparently talking about something amusing.

Eric suddenly stopped in mid-sentence and gawked in their direction. "Is that Anna?"

"Yup," Noah answered with a grin. "Africa was good to her, eh?"

"It sure was!" Eric slid off the bench and jogged over to meet the girls.

"What the hell is he doing?" I demanded, standing up. The hairs on the back of my neck were stiff and sending chills down my spine. My teeth were pressed together and a faint growl escaped from the pit of my stomach.

"Relax, it's just Eric being Eric." Noah stood up and we headed toward the girls. "Besides, I thought you weren't interested."

"I'm not!" I snarled. "But does that mean I shouldn't care when she's about to be victimized?"

"He's harmless," Noah laughed.

"He's a dog," I mumbled, and then we were within earshot.

"Hey guys," Lexie said as we approached. "Doesn't she look fab?" She flipped her hand toward Anna.

"She sure does," Eric cooed, giving Anna a wink.

Anna shifted her weight and smiled painfully. She hated being the centre of attention.

"So, Anna," Eric said, "big party this weekend at Wentworth Lodge. Can you make it?"

"Oh!" Anna hesitated, having been caught off guard. She looked to me for help, but I couldn't think of what I should say so I just shrugged.

"You have to come, Anna," Lexie begged. "It'll be so much fun!"

"Isn't the ski season over?" Anna asked, turning her attention back to Eric. A stall tactic.

"This is the last weekend. Big party weekend."

"I see," Anna said. "Are . . . are you guys going?" she asked, looking to Noah and me.

"Probably," Noah said nodding his head slightly.

I shrugged, because honestly it depended on whether or not she was going. I didn't have any real desire to go, but if she was going, I definitely had to go and keep an eye on things. Why, suddenly, do I feel so protective of her?

Anna's eyes locked with mine and we exchanged the silent words: "If you go, I'll go."

"I'll have to ask," Anna answered.

"That's a yes," Lexie said, excitedly. "Your parents are in Africa. I'm sure they won't care about an innocent weekend at Wentworth with your friends."

"It's her nanny that might mind," I pointed out, still trying to create an "out" for her.

Eric put his arm around Anna. "You can ride with me if you want."

My skin crawled and my stomach tightened. I wondered if my face was showing the same agony. "Come on, Anna," I said quickly as I took her arm and led her toward the school.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

"Uh," I hesitated, "you'll be late for class."

"It's her first day back, Jake," Eric called after us. "No one's gonna care."

What had come over me? Another second with Eric's arm around Anna and I would've lost my mind. Why?

As we walked into the school Anna stopped in her tracks, turned on her heels and faced the door. "Did you see that?"

I looked around the hallway, then toward the principal's office on our right. "Lots of people?" I guessed. "What did you see?"

Anna's hands gripped my forearms and her eyes were squeezed shut. "It's that girl from the airport. The pink luggage girl!"

I scanned the hallway again and noticed the slender diva prancing out of the principal's office. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked around to see who noticed.

"I think you're right," I laughed. "But I'm sure she doesn't recognize you."

Anna slowly turned around and locked eyes with the new girl. The girl smiled and came toward us.

"Hi, I'm Rachel. I'm new here." Her personality was as electric as her smile.

"I'm Jake," I answered when Anna stalled. "This is Anna."

Rachel's eyes scanned me up and down, making me feel slightly violated, and then she turned her attention to Anna. "You look really familiar." She studied Anna's face for a few seconds and then smiled. "Right," she slowly added. "The girl who wouldn't be caught dead with my luggage." She showed her perfect teeth and then winked. "It's okay. I wouldn't be caught dead with yours either."

Anna bit her lip as her right eye twitched slightly, an early sign of a certain face-off. I quickly cut in. "So, where you from?"

Noah appeared at my side. "And I'm Noah Morgan," he said with newfound enthusiasm.

Rachel gave one last smile to Anna then turned her big brown eyes to Noah and me. "I'm from California, actually. We just moved here so I haven't met anyone yet. I was hoping maybe you could introduce me to some people?" She tilted her head to the side and puckered her lower lip. Anna's fingernails dug deep into my arm and I fought hard not to react.

"Noah can help you," Anna said confidently. "We're going to be late for class, Jake. Let's go." She pulled my arm as she led me away. "Maybe we'll see you around later, Rachel."

Rachel looked surprised and pleased at the same time, and Noah was definitely content to be left alone with the new girl.

"You okay?" I asked when we were in the clear.

"Perfectly fine," she lied.

I tried to act indifferent, but Anna's new display of jealousy was flattering. I liked it.

#  **Chapter 3**

**Anna dug out** her class schedule and studied it. "It's so weird coming back to school," she said. "I feel like a new kid. What classes do we have together again?"

I pointed to her schedule. "Homeroom, biology and science."

"Oh yes, I remember now." She slid her schedule back into her pocket. "So how has Mr. Meade been to you?"

"You mean, Mr. Mean?"

Anna giggled. "He's not that bad, Jake."

"To you, maybe."

"Has he sent you to the office yet this year?"

"Twice. Once for being late and once for interrupting him while he was talking." I shook my head.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing you only have him for homeroom and math," she comforted.

"Sure." I pushed open the door to homeroom and let Anna walk in first.

Mr. Meade instantly snapped his head up from his desk, as if sensing my approach. "Mr. Rovert!" he bellowed. "What a delight."

I forced my best smile and found my way to my desk at the back next to Anna's.

"I don't think so, Mr. Rovert. I've reserved this seat up here for you." He patted the desk at the head of the row, directly in front of his.

"Is that really necessary?" I asked, feeling my defences rising.

"Better to be safe than sorry, don't you think? With Miss Taylor back, I need your full attention." He winked and slapped the desk again. "Sit, boy!"

My fingernails dug deep into my palms as the skin on my knuckles whitened. I fought the urge to tell him off. Not today. Not today.

Anna leaned in and whispered, "Relax and sit down." Her voice was like a key that immediately unlocked the tension in my body. I slowly walked up to the desk and smirked at Mr. Meade. He didn't like it. It was not the reaction he was looking for.

The door opened again and in walked the new girl. All conversation ceased as she stood in the doorway with her high heels and short, yellow sundress. Her long, brown hair flowed over her shoulders as she took in a visual tour of the classroom. Then she strutted across the floor and handed Mr. Meade a folded piece of paper. Every eye in homeroom was on her.

Mr. Meade read the note, and then said, "Class, this is Rachel Riley. She's a new student, having just moved here from California. I'm sure you will all make her feel very welcome and take the time to show her around." Mr. Meade peered at us through his thick, oversized glasses—not so much a suggestion, but an order.

A murmur of welcomes echoed through the classroom.

"Rachel," Mr. Meade said as he walked toward me glaring, "you can take this empty seat next to Jacob Rovert. If he annoys you too much, I'll switch you with another student."

I snickered and shook my head. What an idiot.

"Hello again, Jacob," Rachel mocked.

"My friends just call me Jake," I told her politely.

"Does that mean I can call you Jake?" she asked with a presumptuous grin.

"Sure," I answered as uninterested as possible. I wondered if Anna could hear our conversation, or if she even cared at this point. Maybe I was imagining all this chemistry.

"Thank you." She winked. I blushed and turned my head.

"Listen up, everyone!" Mr. Meade shouted over the chatter. "Don't forget our new principal will be making rounds to introduce herself over the next couple of days." He turned his attention to me and peered over the rim of his glasses. "Try to stay out of her office before that time, Mr. Rovert, and try not to embarrass me."

"I'll do my best, sir." I nodded with a grin as the class chuckled in response. Truthfully, I was looking forward to embarrassing him now. My mind ran through some ideas for payback.

Eventually the bell rang dismissing us to first period. Before I could stand up, Lexie had made her way over to introduce herself to Rachel. "Hi, Rachel. I'm Lexie. I can show you around if you like?"

Rachel looked back at me and hesitated. I sensed she was waiting for me to offer too. I caught sight of Anna leaving the classroom so I gathered my books and headed out after her, leaving Lexie to chaperone Rachel.

"Do you have any plans yet for this weekend?" I heard Lexie ask Rachel as I rounded the corner after Anna.

"Wait up!" I called down the hall, dodging the freshman scurrying to get to first period.

Anna turned, giving me a warm smile. "Where's the new girl?" she asked, pretending not to care.

"Lexie's her chaperone. I'm off the hook." We walked down the staircase to the lower level.

"I think she likes you," Anna said.

"Who wouldn't?" I teased, hoping to make light of the situation.

Anna laughed. "You're so full of yourself." She nudged me into the railing.

"Watch the body! You don't want to go bruising this up before the big party this weekend."

"So you're going then?"

"I don't know. You?"

"I don't know yet either." Anna paused by her classroom door. "This is me," she said, nodding toward the class.

For some reason, I was finding it difficult to just walk away. I rechecked my schedule, hoping it had somehow changed and I was actually in her class after all. Nope—French.

Lexie and Rachel came down the stairs.

"Jake," Rachel called. Anna rolled her eyes but put on a sweet smile. I chuckled. So cute. "Are you going to the party this weekend?" Rachel asked.

"We haven't decided yet," I answered, giving a quick, apologetic glance in Anna's direction.

Rachel took a step back and said, "Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you two were together." She looked embarrassed, but probably not as embarrassed as I felt.

"We're not," I answered quickly. "That would be weird."

"Yeah, weird," Anna agreed.

"Hey Anna," A sudden, irritating voice cut through the tension in our circle. It was Eric. "Have you decided about the weekend?" He was looking only at Anna, and I wondered if he realized that the rest of us were standing there too.

"Actually, yes," Anna answered. "I'll be there."

What?

"Great!" Eric said excitedly. "Bring your bikini because there's a hot tub."

Of course there is.

Eric ushered Anna into class and left Lexie, Rachel and me standing in the hallway.

"So can you come?" Rachel finally asked, watching my face intently.

"Yeah, sure, I'll be there."

**When the bell** rang announcing the end of a long day, I hopped out of my desk, grabbed my bag and headed straight for the exit doors. I couldn't wait to see the sunshine, let it hit my face and erase the headache from the last forty-five minutes.

"Where you going?" Noah called from behind as I pushed the doors open.

"Outside," I shouted back.

Noah caught up and slapped me on the back. "So what's the deal with the new girl? You talk to her some more?"

"Not really. She seems nice though."

"I didn't see her at lunch. Where do you think she was?" Noah asked.

"How the hell should I know?"

"She's hot though, right?"

"Sure."

We sat down on the bench and waited for the rest of the group to show up and vent about their days, as per usual.

Rachel and Lexie came out next. Lexie brought her over to our bench. "And this is where we hang out."

Rachel nodded in approval. "Hi guys," she said.

The doors opened again and Anna came out, looking beautiful as always. "Here, take my seat," I said to Rachel as I got up to greet Anna.

"Hey there." Anna smiled as I approached. "How was your afternoon?"

"I had math," I answered solemnly, knowing the "m" word would say much more than I could.

"That bad, eh?" She tried to look sympathetic, but I saw the corner of her mouth twitching.

"So listen, I didn't get to talk to you much at lunch," I said, looking around to confirm we were not being overheard. "You told Eric that you would go to Wentworth?"

Anna looked down at her shoes. "Yeah, I thought it would be fun. Like old times, right?"

"Sure."

"Are you coming?" she asked, squinting into the sun. I wished I could translate the look on her face. Did she want me to come or not?

"Yes," I answered, watching her carefully for a positive reaction.

Her shoulders dropped as she let out a breath of air. "Good," she exclaimed. Her eyes wandered past me and toward the bench. Her smile faded and a quizzical look took over.

"What is it?" I asked, following her gaze to Rachel.

"I don't know what it is, but I feel like she's fake. Like she's hiding something or . . . something."

"Really? Like what?" I decided to entertain her thought, although I figured it was just a bit of jealousy. Anna wasn't used to having competition. She was the prettiest, funniest girl I had ever met, so naturally, no one compared.

"I don't know. I mean, what does she want with you, anyway?"

I forced a fake cough. "Pardon?"

"I mean, you're a good catch and all that stuff, but why would she set her sights on you? There are lots of hot guys at Bedford High." She shook her head as she contemplated her evidence. "And why so soon? I mean, she barely knows you."

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't find her attractive," I said as innocently as I could. Not entirely true, but I wasn't head over heels like the rest of the guys were, and I definitely wasn't drawn to her forthright personality.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Yeah right, Jake. What's not to like about her? Even I'm attracted to her."

I paused and let my mind run wild for a second. "Really?"

A quick jab to my side indicated she wasn't in the mood for any more jokes, so I let it go.

"Anyway," she said, "maybe I just need to get to know her."

"Maybe," I agreed.

Again, that feeling of wanting to hold her started to break down my wall of defence so I pulled my eyes from hers and started walking back to our friends . . . hoping that she would follow.

Although I would never have admitted it, I was actually looking forward to Eric's party after all.

#  **Chapter 4**

**Thursday morning brought** promise as the sun penetrated through layers of mist and warmed the ground. The birds were working away at the wet grass, searching for their breakfast. I sucked in a deep breath of the cool morning air and told myself it was going to be a good day, even if it hadn't started the way I had hoped.

Anna had called, apologetic, and asked if I'd mind if Lexie took her to school again. Of course I pretended like it didn't matter one way or another, but truthfully, every minute without her bothered me more and more.

School had already started by the time I drove into the parking lot. I had intentionally missed homeroom to avoid Mr. Meade. I checked my schedule. First class of the day—math. Of course it was. Why would I be given any other luck?

Wait, maybe luck was on my side. I walked into the classroom and there was no immediate sign of Mr. Meade—maybe we'd have a substitute today. But only minutes later, he entered the room and everyone quickly found their seats, choosing not to become the object of his wrath. Then, a tall, well-dressed woman appeared in the doorway. Her sleek, brown hair rested near her cheekbones and created a frame for her warm smile that instantly brought a feeling of comfort and ease to the room.

Mr. Meade looked up from his papers and quickly stood, startled. "Cl-class! I'd like to in-introduce you to our new principal, Ms. Pe-Pe-Peters!" he stuttered as he wiped a bead of residue from his brow.

Oh, this was too good! Mr. Meade was crushing on the new principal! This was my chance. I could finally bring him to his knees. I stood up and cleared my throat. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Pe-Pe-Peters!" I mimicked.

Rachel giggled and buried her head as the rest of the class burst into hysterics. Mr. Meade turned about six shades of pink, red and, in certain light, you could even say blue. It was one of my proudest moments, for sure.

Ms. Peters nodded slightly and said, "It's a pleasure to meet all of you as well. I've heard lots of great things about the students in this school." She looked at me and winked. "And I am really looking forward to getting to know all of you."

What did she mean by that? I mean, it was obvious she threw a wink in my direction. Was my reputation really that bad?

"Thank you for stopping by, Ms. Peters," Mr. Meade said as he walked her to the door. When she was gone and the door was closed, he turned and his eyes shot balls of fire in my direction. This wasn't good.

"Jacob, you will come back and see me at lunch hour today, tomorrow and every day next week."

"What?" I protested, feeling my hands gripping the sides of my desk.

"Apparently, you need some time to consider the concept of respecting your elders." He sat down at his desk and pushed his thick glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. His evil grin spread from ear to ear.

"No, this isn't fair!" I declared louder.

Mr. Meade stood up quickly and pounded his desk. "IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, MR. ROVERT, WE WILL DISCUSS IT AT LUNCH HOUR!" His voice boomed over the silent classroom.

My teeth clenched together in bitter fury. My desk began to make cracking noises as the wood in my grasp began to splinter. Who does he think he is?

"Jake?" Rachel's voice cut through my raging thoughts. "Are you . . . okay?"

I followed her eyes to my desk—the edges of it were broken and hanging on by threads.

"Nuts!" I quickly let go and leaned back in my chair. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just grounded." Dad would be home later today and Meade would have surely called by then. There would be no Wentworth weekend for me.

I had so many emotions running through me and I needed to get out of that classroom. Away from that teacher. Away from the dozens of eyes that were burning holes into my back.

"I have to go to the washroom," I mumbled quickly as I started for the door.

"Get back to your seat," Mr. Meade warned, "or you'll be here for the rest of the month too."

I didn't bother to argue. I just stormed out of the classroom and threw my fist into the door for good measure.

That was a mistake. Although the door was metal, my fist left a fairly good sized dent in the middle of it. I heard a few gasps coming from the classroom and Mr. Meade bellowing something about respect . . . or lack thereof.

I waited out my frustration within the bathroom walls as I nursed my bleeding knuckles. My hand was completely purple. What was I thinking? This was not going to go over well with my parents. I wish they could see how he pushes my buttons. How he only picks on me and no one else. How his glare alone instantly raises my defenses. Like he has an agenda and I'm it.

The bell finally rang and I had to go back to the classroom to collect my books. Thankfully, I met Rachel in the hallway and she was holding my book bag.

"Thanks," I said as I took my stuff. "I did not want to go back in there."

"You're pretty strong," she said as she reached out and touched my swollen hand.

"Apparently," I muttered. "Although I'm pretty sure our new principal won't be as impressed once she finds out."

"Oh, don't worry about Ms. Peters. She seems cool." Spoken with such confidence.

"I hope so," I answered.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later?" Rachel asked as she gently tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"Yeah. Later. Unless I'm grounded from school too." I laughed, although the idea didn't seem too far-fetched at this point.

**The next day** I was on my best behaviour at school, which didn't seem to lessen the intensity of Mr. Meade's burning hatred toward me. I had been dreading the end of the day when I would have to tell my friends that I couldn't go to Wentworth with them because I would be grounded once Ms. Peters got a hold of my parents. How embarrassing.

Anna greeted me at the classroom door. "I didn't hear from you last night. Is everything okay?"

Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail with her bangs swept to the side and tucked behind her ear.

"Yeah, well, I got a detention for disrespecting Mr. Meade yesterday. Pretty sure I'm not going anywhere for a while. Sorry about that."

"You should be! I can't believe you!" she teased.

I forced a smile. "I won't be going this weekend."

"What?" She stopped and held my arm firmly. "You can't be serious."

"Once Dad finds out, I'm sure he'll have a list of chores for me to do this weekend." I kicked at a rock on the classroom floor. "It sucks. I know." No one knew it better than me. Knowing Eric would have Anna all to himself this weekend sent vibrations up my spine.

The room went quiet. My eyes flickered to Anna, and I could hear her breathing.

"Jake?" she said quietly, her voice being the only sound my ears could hear. She played with the cross on her necklace, letting it twirl between her fingers. "I was wondering . . . if . . . you might want . . ."

Mr. Meade cleared his throat, "Okay, class! Break it up and get back to your seats!"

Anna's eyes met mine and I saw her disappointment. The man had impeccable timing. She turned to go back to her seat.

"Wait, what were you going to say?" I asked quietly as I followed her down the aisle.

"Nothing, really . . . it's okay . . . I just . . ."

For some reason, her turmoil was eating away at me. She looked so uncomfortable and all I wanted to do was fix it . . . somehow. If I knew what she wanted to say, I'd say it for her.

"Hi Jake," Rachel interrupted as she approached us. "How are your knuckles feeling today?" She lifted my hand and caressed it with her soft fingers.

Anna rolled her eyes and sat down. I wanted to push Rachel aside.

"Is this the hand?" Rachel asked as she lifted my other hand and compared them.

"Yeah, it was. I'm a fast healer." I pulled my hands back and walked past her to my desk. I saw Anna smile, which made me smile too.

"A fast healer, huh?" Rachel sat down beside me and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I wish I was. See this scar?" She pulled up her sleeve to reveal a two-inch scar along her forearm. "That's from when I was five and learning to ride a bike. Typical, right? Do you have any scars?"

"No, I don't think so. I usually heal up pretty quickly." I mentally scanned my body as I tried to recall any scars or bruises of interest. I couldn't think of any, so I let the conversation die.

**I wasn't a** fan of French class. It was forty-five minutes a day that I would do anything to avoid. It definitely wasn't my strongest subject. The only reason I was passing the class was because of Noah. We partnered up for everything and he was fluent in French. He was a natural. It was obviously a turn-on for girls too. They flocked to Noah in French class.

Today Rachel asked if she could join our group as we were working on an assignment where we had to conduct an interview in French. Noah didn't hesitate to let her join. Apparently, she didn't pester him with the same hundred and one questions she did me.

Rachel and Noah bantered back and forth in French as we worked on our assignment. I understood very little of what they were saying.

"Parlez-vous d'autres langues?" Rachel asked Noah as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. I knew enough to understand that she was asking if he spoke any other languages.

"Non," Noah responded.

"Avez-vous déjà essayé?" she asked again, leaning in further in anticipation of his next response.

"Have I ever tried? Like tried to learn another language?" Noah clarified.

"Oui."

"Non," he answered.

"Qual è il tuo cibo preferito?" Rachel shifted in her seat as she waited for Noah's response. I definitely didn't know enough French to understand what she was saying now. It sounded provocative though. I wouldn't put it past her.

"My favourite food is pizza," Noah said as he continued to work on the assignment.

"Hmph! Very interesting." Rachel sat back in her chair and tapped her pencil on her desk.

"What?" Noah and I both looked at her with confusion.

"Well, it's just that I asked you what your favourite food was." Her eyes narrowed on him. "I was speaking Italian. Did you forget that you know Italian?"

"I knew it!" I jumped in. "I knew you weren't speaking French."

They both looked at me as if that wasn't the real point. I settled back in my chair and listened for Noah's explanation.

Noah looked puzzled for a moment and continued, "Yeah, I guess that wasn't French, was it?"

Rachel straightened in her seat and leaned in even closer. Still speaking low enough that others couldn't hear her, she said, "Let me try another language." She cleared her throat. "Was wir in der klasse sind im moment?"

And without skipping a beat, Noah responded, "You asked me what class we were in." Noah looked confused. "In German."

They both looked equally surprised. I tried to keep my mouth closed as I looked from one to the other. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Noah is gifted," is all she said, and then the bell rang and she got up and bolted out the door.

Noah and I sat for a few minutes in amazement. He finally looked at me and said, "Is there something wrong with me? Am I a freak?"

"Apparently," I teased, although I was beginning to question it myself. "But if it makes you feel any better, so is she."

As the next class began filtering in, we gathered our books and moved on in silence.

#  **Chapter 5**

**Next period, I** found myself daydreaming in science class when an announcement came over the PA system. I was still trying to process everything that had happened in French class and trying to figure out when Noah would have learned those other languages and why he didn't tell me about it. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the announcement until I heard my name.

". . . Jacob Rovert to the office, please."

Crap! I figured it was only a matter of time before I had to own up to the dent in the classroom door. I gathered my books and headed toward the principal's office—a route I knew too well—and caught up to Noah who was coming from biology class.

"What do you think this is about?" He sounded confused.

"They called you too?" I shook my head. "I thought it was about me hitting the door in Mr. Meade's class, but you weren't even there for that, so I don't know."

The secretary ushered us into Ms. Peters' office, making some sort of humorous comment about it being nice to see us again. I quickly noticed Rachel sitting on the window ledge in the back corner. She had an amused expression on her face, which confused me even more.

"Boys, come in and sit down." Ms. Peters wore an inviting smile and she seemed quite relaxed. I got the feeling it wasn't going to be a bad meeting.

"What is this about?" Noah asked as he turned to look at Rachel who was now smirking deceptively. Odd girl. Pretty, but odd girl.

"Well, you both know Rachel Riley," Ms. Peters said in a soft, low voice as she motioned toward Rachel.

We nodded in unison.

"Rachel has come to me with a very interesting theory." She paused to pour herself a glass of water. "Rachel believes you are both gifted." Ms. Peters looked up to assess our reactions. Silence. "Noah, I understand you have the ability to understand foreign languages?"

Noah straightened in his seat uncomfortably. "Well, apparently I can understand French, Italian and German . . . and English, of course."

"Anda dapat memahami saya sekarang?" she questioned him in a language I had definitely never heard before.

"You asked me if I could understand what you were just saying, in Indonesian. And I have no idea how I know that." Noah's voice was shaking and I could see the beads of perspiration forming on his forehead.

"Excellent. Very good," Ms. Peters commended before turning to me. "And Jake, Rachel tells me that you are a fast healer. No scars anywhere?"

"That's right, ma'am," I said nervously as I shifted in my seat.

"I wonder," she said to herself as she opened the drawer to her desk and pulled out a pocket knife. She handed the knife to me and asked me to cut myself. I'm not kidding. Those were her exact words: "Cut yourself, please. I want to see it for myself."

I don't know why I didn't hesitate. I knew what I had to do. I poked the knife through my skin and sliced a three-inch-long incision into the palm of my hand. I probably would've flinched if it weren't for Rachel and Noah watching with such anticipation and admiration.

"Here," Ms. Peters said as she handed me a towel, "wrap this around your hand. Now I want you to close your eyes for a moment and think about your hand healing."

I did as I was told. I squeezed my eyelids closed and thought about my hand in its perfect form. No incision. No blood. Of course I knew this was ridiculous because the towel was already soaked in blood.

"Okay Jake, now let me see." Ms. Peters gently unwrapped the towel from my hand. I turned it over to show her the damage. Or what should have been the damage. There was no open wound, just a bloodstained palm. I looked closer, and stretched my fingers apart expecting to see something. There was just the faint line of what looked like an old scar.

"Now that is cool!" Noah exclaimed.

Rachel clapped her hands together in excitement and squealed, "Told you."

Noah bent down and started rolling up his pant leg, "Hey, try my leg. I gouged it last night at lacrosse."

"It won't work on you, Noah," Ms. Peters began. "Jake's gift is still in its infancy stage. He'll need to work on it in order to be able to heal others. That will take time, practise and patience, of course."

"Work on it?" I asked, finally able to speak. "What do you mean?"

"Are you tired, Jake?" Ms. Peters asked.

My eyebrows creased as I pondered her question, and oddly yes, I felt exhausted.

"You'll need to develop your gift so that it doesn't drain you when you use it." She sat down in her chair. "You'll need strength as a Gifted One. To help mankind."

Noah nodded in agreement. I felt I should too, but I was too confused.

"But why?" I asked, hoping for something to clear the fog in my head.

"Gifted Ones work as an elite force with the international police. Interpol comes to us when they reach a dead end," Ms. Peters explained. "We build clusters of Gifted Ones to work in teams." She paused and her eyes lit up with excitement. "But this group here is destined to be the biggest force yet."

Rachel chimed in, "Jake, this is probably a little too much information at one time, but you really do have an extremely special gift."

I shook my head trying to make sense of it all. "Wait, what do you have to do with this? Who are you guys?"

Rachel and Ms. Peters exchanged a knowing glance as Ms. Peters began to explain, "Rachel is my daughter." There was a pause as she gave us time to process this new bit of information. "I'm sure you can appreciate why we like to keep this a secret. It wouldn't do Rachel any good making friends or maintaining our undercover identities."

"Wait!" Noah turned and pointed at Rachel. "You're the principal's daughter?"

She smiled innocently and shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry I couldn't tell you guys. I had to be sure about you first."

Ms. Peters continued, "Rachel and I are also gifted. There are more of our kind around the world, and we often seek out others with such talents, to train and assist them in helping with our cause."

"You are gifted too? Rachel, you can heal? Understand languages? I don't get it." I could feel my face getting hot. I wanted it all to make sense.

"Yes, we are both gifted, but not with the same gifts that you have. Rachel has the gift of Prophecy; she can see the future. I have the gift of Wisdom, which is the ability to retain any and all information I've ever read or heard, and also to lead or sway a crowd with my voice."

That explained why I didn't feel the need to question her, and how I somehow knew that what she was saying was right.

She continued, "There are many different gifts that one can be blessed with. Rachel can speak a few languages, but only because she has learned them through study." Ms. Peters stood and crossed the room to the window, and then continued, "Rachel had a vision about Jake and someone close to him, and their potential for making an amazing difference in the world. She wasn't sure until today that it was Noah. This is part of the reason we came here—to seek you out."

I wasn't sure how I felt about knowing that we had been "spotted and hunted." Kind of flattering; mostly creepy.

Noah decided it was his turn to speak. "So, wait. You said something about us helping your cause. What does that mean? What is your cause exactly?"

Rachel hopped off the edge of Ms. Peters' desk. "Our cause is to keep the peace. Get rid of the bad guys; help the good guys. That sort of jazz."

"And how are we supposed to help you do that?" Noah stared back at Rachel with curiosity.

"With your gifts, of course. The gift of healing is very rare, and extremely important. Imagine the power it will give us to have Jake on our side. To heal us whenever we are injured. To heal the innocent. The victims."

Ms. Peters joined in. "Of course Rachel is right about Jake. However, Noah's gift of translation is also invaluable. We often deal with other nationalities so it will be advantageous to have him on our team as a spy, so to speak." She moved back to her big leather chair and sat down carefully. "Of course, there will be a lot of training involved. Your talents are still raw."

I looked down at my hand, where the scar was even more faded than before. I was pretty impressed with my gift just the way it was. But the idea of being able to heal other people was intriguing.

"Wait a second," I said, turning to Rachel. "So this is why you were so interested in me?"

Rachel laughed. "Did you really think I had a thing for you, Jake?" She scoffed as if that wasn't possible.

I couldn't decide whether I was more angry or hurt. I decided I was angry, given the fact that she had caused Anna so much frustration because of it. "I'm sure there were other ways to find out more about me. You didn't have to go on acting like you wanted me," I said.

Rachel tilted her head. "If you'd like me to keep pretending for the sake of your little Anna, I can do that."

"Leave her out of this," I snapped.

"Fighting like siblings already." Ms. Peters shook her head in disapproval. "Let's get back to business."

I returned my attention to Ms. Peters since she was the one who made me feel calm and rational. "So what's in it for us?" I asked.

She smiled slightly and leaned in to lower her voice, "I thought you might ask." She reached into her desk and pulled out a folder containing a stack of paper. "We'll have to get your signatures on some documents, and we will take care of the rest. As for your studies, I will ensure your grades improve to put you near the top of the class. We need your full attention on training. You can't be preoccupied with extra help or tutoring."

Fantastic! That was a big enough perk in itself. I controlled my excitement in an effort to hold my bargaining position.

Ms. Peters continued, "Also, I will have to pull you from some of your classes to do training during the day. We'll call it tutoring, since that's essentially what it is."

An uncontrollable grin was creeping across my face at this point. Our homework would be done for us, projects would be a thing of the past, we would be able to skip classes during the day . . . it was all too good to be true. I was in!

"But most importantly," Ms. Peters began, "you cannot, under any circumstance, reveal your gift or your new purpose to anyone." Her controlled stare, combined with the gift of mind control, made it very clear that she was more than serious.

We nodded. "Understood."

Ms. Peters kept us out of class for the rest of the day, citing in-house suspension. She gave us background information on the secret society to which we now belonged. By the end of the day, we were brought up to speed on the "need-to-know" information and finished signing all of the convoluted contracts, which bound us to secrecy and had us consenting to assume responsibility and liability for any future harm that might come of us. More importantly, the contracts also gave us assurance that our school work and alibis would be taken care of.

As we were leaving the office, Ms. Peters caught my arm. "Jake, I will speak to your parents this afternoon and tell them that I have you on an extensive tutorial program here at the school which will help improve your grades, and I will make sure they don't hear about your incident with Mr. Meade yesterday. As a result, they should be more lenient with you, which will give you time away to train, and to be with your friends." She nodded toward Rachel and Noah who were waiting for me in the hallway.

"Thank you, Ms. Peters. I really appreciate that." My thoughts immediately went to Anna and the weekend trip to Wentworth.

"And go have fun on that Wentworth trip. Rachel will be there. You two can chat some more, if you have further questions."

"Again, thank you." I shook her hand and caught up with Noah and Rachel. I was excited about Wentworth and the good possibility that I would now be allowed to go. For some reason, I needed to spend the weekend with Anna. I needed to finally hear what she had been trying to tell me earlier.

#  **Chapter 6**

**The school was** empty by the time we left Ms. Peters' office. I hadn't realized how late it was getting, and now I felt sick that I hadn't been able to see Anna before I left. I wondered if she had been looking for me, or if she had even noticed I wasn't there. I was sure of one thing today: I needed to have Anna for myself.

Noah came over after school and had dinner, and then we went to my room and talked for a while about our newfound abilities. Both of us were in a state of shock about the whole thing. Noah couldn't stop talking about how this was going to be his "in" with Rachel.

"My problem is being sworn to secrecy," I said after listening to Noah go on about Rachel for far too long.

"I know." Noah caught the football that he had been tossing up in the air and stared at me. "It's like we have these cool super powers and it would be great to show them off a bit." Noah laughed.

"I'd hardly call yours a super power," I teased. "But that's not what I meant, anyway. I'm okay with not having everyone running to me for every bruise and broken bone."

"Then what's your problem?" He looked at me as if he really didn't get it, but then it clicked. His eyebrows raised and the corners of his mouth turned up. "Anna."

"Anna," I repeated.

"So are you ready to admit you like her yet?"

"It's so weird to admit, but yeah. Yeah, I like her." I hopped off my bed and grabbed the football from Noah's lap. "I can't stop thinking about her." I sat back down on my bed and tossed the ball to Noah.

He caught it and tossed it back. "Someone's got it bad."

"This is your fault," I said, throwing the ball harder at him. "You're the one who got this into my head in the first place."

"Dude, it's always been there. I just helped you find it."

I sat up again and looked out my window. The moon was high in the sky, and casting a perfect luminescent glow over the backyard. "It's late," I noticed.

Noah checked his watch. "Crap! I gotta go pack."

"Yeah, I should too," I replied. "Ms. Peters called Dad and fed him some garbage about me having a lot of potential and that she had me on a tight study schedule in school." I shook my head—as if I had potential.

"Pretty cool gig, huh?"

"Can't complain yet."

"So I'll pick you up at eight?" Noah said as he grabbed his book bag and headed for the door.

"That's a little early, isn't it?"

"Lexie said that's what time they're leaving. It's only one night. We gotta make the most of it," Noah encouraged. It worked.

"Fine."

"Rachel said she'll come with us," Noah said casually.

"What about Anna?"

"I'll call her to see if she'd rather ride with us or Eric." Even though he was joking, it made me sick to think that she might actually choose Eric.

**It was just** after ten thirty when I finished packing for the weekend. Grabbing my duffle bag, I ran down the stairs and dropped it by the front door. Mom and Dad were in the living room having a glass of wine and playing an intense game of chess.

"Jake, come join us," Dad called as he waved me over. "Your mother could use a little help."

I assessed the chessboard and saw that Dad had Mom in about three moves or less. "Just quit now, Mom. He has you."

"Oh, sweetheart, you know a quitter never wins," Mom teased as she pretended to have a well-thought-out strategy in mind.

"Yeah, yeah, and a winner never quits—but you're not a winner, Mom." I patted the top of her head and whispered, "I think you should knock his king over. That might be your best bet."

She laughed as she contemplated it. Mom hated to lose. She was quite competitive. So was Dad though, so I never really understood why they played chess together every weekend when he was home. Mom told me it strengthened their marriage since Dad travelled so much for work. It forced them to think like each other and get back on the same wavelength. Weird stuff.

Mom stroked her chin thoughtfully, then she quickly swiped the board with her hand and muttered, "Cheater."

"Maybe next time, love," Dad mused as he passed Mom her glass.

Mom took the wine, scowled at him, and then curled up beside me on the couch. "So, Jake, big trip this weekend. Looking forward to it?" she asked.

"Yeah, should be a lot of fun. Thanks again for letting me go."

"Well, you can thank that new principal of yours," Dad pointed out. "She was very encouraging."

I grinned as I remembered my alibi.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Anna called for you while I was on the other line earlier." Mom liked Anna. You could always tell when she liked or disliked one of my friends. If I got their phone messages, then she liked them. She would often open my bedroom door late at night to yell at me to get off the phone, but when she heard I was talking to Anna, she'd smile and say, "Five more minutes, okay, sweetheart? Say hi to Anna for me."

I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I hopped off the couch and into the kitchen, glancing around the room for the cordless.

"She's such a sweet girl, Jake. Are you guys . . . an item yet?" Mom said hopefully.

"Mom! We're just friends . . . for now."

"Will she be going with you guys this weekend?" Dad asked.

"I think so. How about I call her back and find out?" I laughed as I found the phone and waved goodbye with it.

I took the stairs up to my room two at a time and nearly ran over Abby when I reached the top.

"Geez! Sorry, Abby!" I remembered the time and took a closer look at my sister who was standing with her arms straight by her sides and her eyes barely open. She was sleepwalking again.

"Abby, wake up." I lightly shook her, but she just swatted my hands away. "Mom, Abby's sleepwalking!"

Mom and Dad hurried to the bottom of the stairs. "Just leave her, Jake," Mom said. "I want to see where she goes when she sleepwalks."

It was because of Abby's nightly episodes that we had a state-of-the-art alarm system installed in the house. Mom was a deep sleeper, and with Dad away all the time, they were worried Abby would get out of the house in the middle of the night and no one would ever know what happened to her.

Abby continued down the stairs and into the living room. She knelt down beside the coffee table and started picking up the chess pieces and putting them back in the box. Then she picked up the art supplies on the floor and put them away, tidied up the blankets on the back of the couch, brought the wine glasses into the kitchen and started running the water to do the dishes.

Dad started to wake her up, but Mom quickly stopped him. Obviously she wanted to see how much housework she could get out of Abby while she was asleep.

"Just leave her, David. I want to see how she'll wake herself up." They both watched Abby with amused expressions and I could see that they wouldn't notice if I slipped back upstairs.

"Good night," I mumbled as I headed back up to my room.

**I quickly dialed** Anna's number. It was getting late, but I had to talk to her.

"Hello?" her perfect voice answered in a slight whisper.

"Hi Anna. Sorry it's late. Mom just told me that you called. Is everything okay?" I kicked off my slippers and stretched out on my bed.

"Yeah, everything's fine. What happened to you today?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"In-house detention," I lied. It felt awful to lie to her, but I remembered my vow to keep the secret.

"That stinks. How'd it go?"

"Fine," I said quickly, hoping to get her off the subject. "Are you all ready for tomorrow?"

"Yes, and I heard you're able to come after all," she said, sounding pleased.

"Wouldn't miss it. Are you travelling with us? Noah's driving."

"Yeah, he called and asked if I wanted to drive with you guys . . . and I think Rachel is coming too?" I could swear I heard a hint of jealousy in her voice. It was cute.

"Oh, is she? I didn't know. Maybe she'll sit up front with Noah."

"That would be nice."

There were a few seconds of awkward silence.

I cleared my throat and said, "So, I was wondering. You were trying to tell me something earlier, but Mr. Meade interrupted us?"

"Oh, yeah. Ummm . . . maybe we could talk about it tomorrow? At Wentworth?"

I didn't want to wait, but whatever Anna wanted, I would give her. "Sounds good," I lied.

"Well, I'll see you in the morning. Good night, Jake."

"Good night," I said softly as I hung up the phone and sat staring at it while a swarm of butterflies played tag in my stomach.

I began recalling memories of Anna and me playing together—in her backyard building forts, in my basement playing pool, in her garage rebuilding our bikes. I started to doze off as I remembered one particular memory of the two of us paddling her canoe out to a private island and exchanging our first "real kiss" under the big oak tree. It ended up being our only kiss for years . . . but maybe that was about to change.

#  **Chapter 7**

**I was waiting** at the end of the driveway when Noah pulled up in his Jeep shortly after eight o'clock. Rachel was sitting in the front seat flipping through Noah's playlist. The back seat was empty. I threw my duffle bag into the trunk and attached my skis onto the ski rack next to Noah's.

"Mornin'," I said as I slid into the back seat.

"Good morning," Rachel answered cheerfully. Much too perky for this hour. Noah's silence was typical for this time of day.

"Anna next?" I tried to maintain a tone of indifference.

"Yes, Jake, we won't forget your girlfriend," Rachel answered playfully.

"She's not my girlfriend," I said, not even convincing myself.

"Well, maybe not right now, but she will be." Rachel peered at me over the top of her sunglasses and winked.

What did she mean by that? Did she know something that I didn't? Wait a second—she had that weird gift of being able to see into the future. I steadied my heart rate and forced myself to relax. "Oh, right. I forgot about your gift. Well, thanks for the heads up, but you can feel free to stay out of my business," I said feigning annoyance, although I was more than ecstatic over this possibility.

"Well, regardless of what might happen in the future, just remember to keep your lips sealed about our little secret. Got it?" Rachel said with a little too much supremacy.

"Yeah, yeah. Turn around and find us some tunes, would ya?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "And that right there is why it won't last."

"What do you mean?" I asked, suddenly interested in something Rachel had to say.

"Oh, sorry, lips are sealed." Rachel pouted. "Staying out of your business like I was told."

"Settle down, children," Noah laughed as he pulled into Anna's driveway.

I clenched my teeth and told myself she was just trying to get under my skin. She didn't know what she was talking about.

Anna was waiting on her front steps. She was wearing black yoga pants and a white ski jacket. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a few small pieces that hung by her face. I met her at the bottom of her walkway and helped her with her backpack and skis.

"Good morning, beautiful," I blurted with a surge of self-confidence, and immediately felt flush when her reaction was delayed.

"Well, good morning to you, handsome." She smiled crookedly, making it hard to look away. I held the door open for her as she climbed into the Jeep.

"Hi, Anna!" Rachel said excitedly. "Oh! This is going to be so much fun! Are you excited? I love your lipstick colour, by the way. What shade is it?"

Anna laughed as she touched her lips. "I don't know what it's called, actually. Some shade of pink, I guess."

I leaned toward Anna and whispered, "Since when do you wear lipstick?" My lips brushed her ear and her face turned a pretty pink, matching her lips.

"I figure since I'm a single girl, I should look good in case there are some single guys at the resort," she flirted back.

Rachel turned up the music and started bopping and singing along. I rolled my eyes and continued with Anna. "Single girl, huh? Well, maybe I don't like the idea of you looking for single guys, Anna Taylor."

She raised her eyebrows to suggest I had no control over that part of her life.

"Guys are jerks," I continued. "You have to be careful." I put on my best "big brother" voice.

"Oh, please! And what are you going to do about it?"

What was I going to do about it? I didn't know. Maybe it was time to show her how I really felt. All the tension and chemistry between us had to be for something. Suddenly, it didn't matter if I screwed things up. If I didn't try, I was screwing things up.

I followed her eyes to the seat between us and watched as her fingers twitched, then moved an inch closer to mine. This was my chance—I reached out my fingers and gently stroked hers. She turned her hand over and held my fingers softly.

What an amazing feeling—holding the hand of an angel. My eyes wandered to her face and I noticed that hers were closed and her breath was silent. How I could have been so blind all these years? Anna was perfect for me.

Anna opened her eyes and caught me staring. We both quickly looked away and she slid her hand out from mine.

"Rachel, how are you enjoying Halifax so far?" Anna asked, almost awkwardly.

"I love it. I'm having a blast at Bedford High, and Jake has been keeping me great company." She looked back and winked at me.

What on Earth was she trying to do? Anna caught the exchange and her eyebrows lowered in confusion. I shook my head and shrugged, but I knew by the expression on Anna's face that she wasn't buying what I was selling.

Regrettably, Rachel continued, "We spent a lot of time together yesterday. We have a lot in common, actually."

I was frozen with anger and panic.

"Well, you seem to be fitting in well," Anna said coldly as she turned to look out the window.

I reached over and touched Anna's knee in an attempt to reassure her that I was not interested in Rachel, but she moved further from my reach. She was hurt. I hated that. Rachel would pay.

The rest of the drive was quiet other than Rachel's periodic squeal of delight over the discovery of a particular song. An hour and a half later, when we finally pulled into the parking lot of the lodge, the excitement started to build.

"There's Tyler and Monica over there," Noah said as he got out of the Jeep and stretched.

Tyler was Eric's best friend. I knew he'd be here because he and Eric never did anything without each other. Monica and Tyler had been together since the start of grade eleven, and although she wasn't very outgoing, she always tagged along on any of our group events and wasn't that bad once you got her talking.

"I saw Eric's truck when we pulled in, and I think he took Lexie with him." I grabbed my bag and slung it across my chest. Then I reached in to pull out Anna's backpack.

"I can take that." Anna politely took her bag.

"I'll get your skis," I offered.

"I got them." She took her skis and continued walking toward the lodge.

"What's with her?" Noah asked as he pulled his duffle bag from the trunk.

"Rachel!" I turned and walked briskly over to Rachel who was looking innocent as she took in her new surroundings. "What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to ruin my weekend?"

"Chill out." Rachel lowered her voice. "I was only teasing. Who knew you'd both take it so seriously?"

"Well, next time you want to have a little fun, don't do it at Anna's expense. Ever!" I turned and tried to catch up to Anna who was now standing with Monica and Lexie at the front entrance.

"Jake!" Lexie called, waving me over. I saw the three of them whispering and giggling as I approached.

"What's up, ladies?" I smiled.

Anna looked down at her foot, shuffling in the dirt.

"Let's get this party started!" Eric shouted as he came out of the main doors to greet us. He swung his arms around Lexie and Anna. "One key for you and Monica," Eric said as he handed Lexie a room key. He handed another key to Anna. "And this one's for you and Rachel." Just as Anna's fingers touched the key, he pulled it back. "Unless, of course, you want to stay with me." He showed his dimple, which begged my fist to hit it. Noah discreetly pulled my arm back.

"I'm good," Anna politely assured him.

"I know, girl. I know." Eric laughed and turned to me. "For you and Noah." He handed me a key and I forced my friendliest smile.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I am too excited to get on that hill!" Lexie squealed. "I'm heading straight there now. Anyone in?"

"Count me in," Eric said.

"I've gotta go drop my bag first," I said. "Anna, you coming?" I asked, hoping she'd take the bait so we could talk alone. Lexie and Monica exchanged an interested look. I wondered what they knew.

Anna blushed and lowered her head. "Sure. Yeah, I guess I should go drop my bag first."

I smiled and walked past the group with Anna, then leaned down to whisper in her ear, "You mind if I take your bag now, or are you still playing Miss Independent?"

"Buzz off, Jake! Ugh! If you weren't so damn cute." She shoved her backpack into my stomach.

We walked into the resort and stopped to take it all in. The main lodge had recently been renovated, and it looked completely different.

Anna gasped. "Look at this place. It's gorgeous!"

Across the big open room was a massive stone fireplace that reached at least thirty feet from floor to ceiling. New leather furniture was placed around it, making for a great place to relax while enjoying the spectacular views of the ski hill through the wall of windows that framed the fireplace. Two rich, dark wood staircases spiralled up on either side of the open room and met at the landing above. To the right was a lounge, complete with a big-screen TV and a bar. To the left was the reception area.

We slowly walked up the grand staircase and down the hall to our room. I unlocked the door and threw our bags onto the bed.

"This isn't my room," Anna said as she let one side of her mouth curl up. She was still distant and wouldn't look straight at me.

"I know. Just hear me out." I pulled her down to sit next to me on the bed and took her hand in mine. It felt natural. "Anna, I'm really sorry about Rachel. I don't know what her problem is. I think she's just jealous."

"Jealous of what?" she challenged.

I took a deep breath and went on, "Of the fact that I want to be with you and not her." It was a bold move, but I had to say it. Words I never thought I'd say to Anna Taylor. It had been killing me for the last few days, and finally saying it was a huge relief.

"You do?" Her voice was soft and tender. Her eyes were almost pleading.

"I do." I leaned down and kissed her softly on her lips for the first time since grade eight under the old oak tree. "And do you want the same thing?"

And as if heaven's angels sang it themselves, she closed her eyes and whispered, "Yes."

I pulled her into my chest and wrapped my arms around her perfect body, inhaling her sweet aroma.

I couldn't be sure how much time passed when she finally pulled from my hold and looked up at me and said, "They're waiting for us."

"Let them wait." I lifted her chin and kissed her again, gently. She reached up and tangled her hands into my hair and pressed her lips firmly against mine.

"Uh-hum!" An annoying voice cleared the romance in the room. We broke apart and turned to face Noah and Rachel standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hey guys," Anna was a little smug. I could tell she enjoyed watching Rachel's reaction.

"Well, look who's the hottest new couple," Noah laughed as he threw his bag on the bed beside us.

"Yeah, yeah. Get out, would ya?" I pushed his bag off the bed. "And this bed is mine, by the way. You can sleep on the sofa."

"Arm wrestle you for it," Noah challenged.

"Cut it out," Rachel warned. "You guys coming?"

"Anna?" I unzipped my bag and began unpacking its contents. "Did you want to go skiing now or later? It's up to you."

Noah rolled his eyes so dramatically that the action could almost be heard. Anna giggled, "Yeah, let's do it now. It'll be a fun way to kick-start the weekend. Besides, everyone is waiting. We can pick up where we left off later." She winked at me and the butterflies began playing tag again.

#  **Chapter 8**

**The warm air** whipped at my face as we raced down the mountain. Noah and Rachel were just ahead, and I could hear them shouting as they enjoyed cutting each other off. Anna was trailing close behind me. We had been going all morning, and I was starting to feel famished. I reached the bottom of the hill and came to a stop beside Noah and Rachel. I turned, expecting to see Anna right behind me, but she was nowhere in sight. I surveyed the area, but I couldn't see her white jacket in the crowd of other skiers.

"Did you see Anna?" I asked Noah and Rachel.

"No, I didn't see her. Wasn't she right behind you?" Noah asked.

"I thought so."

A minute passed before Rachel said, "Hmph. I wonder if she wiped out already."

Her choice of words alerted me to the fact that she knew something.

"Rachel, what do you know?" My eyes and voice threatened her.

"Well . . . I sort of had a vision that Anna breaks her arm this weekend. She wipes out, we go to the hospital and she gets a cast. But I didn't think it would happen so soon." She scrunched her eyebrows and tapped her finger to her lip. "I thought for sure it was going to be tomorrow."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded.

"Because someone wanted me to mind my own business and keep my visions to myself."

Never hit a girl. Never hit a girl. "Unbelievable!" I launched myself off with my poles and pushed myself toward the chairlift, fighting my way to the front of the line.

"Jake, where are you going?" Noah called after me.

"To find her! You stay here in case she comes down. Call me if you see her!"

"Why don't you just call her?" Rachel said.

"She doesn't have a cell phone," I growled.

"Who doesn't have a cell phone in grade eleven?" Rachel scoffed.

I heard Noah shush her, which was enough for me to ignore her comment as I pressed on. I hopped on the next lift and sat impatiently as we crept to the top of the hill, keeping my eyes open for Anna.

We finally reached the top and just as I was pushing off toward the same trail that Anna and I were on, my cell phone rang. I fumbled for it in my jacket pocket.

"Noah! Do you see her?"

"Dude, she's on her way to the medical clinic here at the lodge. Rachel's with her."

"Rachel," I muttered under my breath. "And her arm?"

"She's in pain. Eric said it's broken."

"Eric? Why?" I pushed off and started racing back down the hill, clutching my poles in one hand and my phone in the other. I hated being so far away from her when she needed me. I needed to be by her side.

"Eric saw her crash and helped her down the hill."

"Tell her I'll be there in a few minutes. I'll meet you at the clinic."

We knew the clinic well. Noah required a visit there last year when he lost control and wrapped himself around the chairlift post. And I was there earlier this year when I twisted my knee during a race through the moguls.

The trip down the hill seemed at least twice as long as it had earlier felt. When I reached the bottom, I popped off my skis, leaving them near the front steps and ran around the side of the building to the medical clinic. Noah and Rachel were waiting outside the door.

"How is she?" I asked when I caught up.

"She's fine, Jake. It's just a broken arm." Rachel rolled her eyes in disapproval.

I pushed past and opened the door. Anna was sitting in a chair against the far wall, holding her arm. Eric was standing beside her with his hands on her shoulders. I instantly felt nauseous.

"Jake." Anna's eyes lit up as she tried to stand.

Eric held her back. "Anna, sit still. You're in a lot of pain."

"I've got it from here, Eric, thanks." I jerked my head toward the door as an invitation for him to leave. He hesitated but then squeezed Anna's shoulders and wisely left.

"Anna, I am so sorry. I didn't know you wiped out. I feel awful that I wasn't there." I knelt down in front of her and held her hand.

"Oh, stop it. It's not your fault. I was stupid, trying to catch up to you. I should've known better." She laughed, and then clutched her arm in pain.

I turned to the nurse and asked, "Is it broken?" even though I already knew it was.

"Looks like it." The nurse gently ran her fingers over a large bump on Anna's forearm. "I've seen enough broken bones in my time to know one when I see one. We're going to have to get her off to the hospital once I get this form filled out." She held up a clipboard with a page of questions for Anna. Half were already answered and I finally understood why she was annoyed at my bursting into the room—I was slowing things up.

"Oh, sorry. Go ahead, ask away."

As the nurse continued with her questions for Anna, I had a thought—I was a healer. I could heal Anna. Sure, Ms. Peters said I wasn't yet trained to heal others, but if I could heal myself, maybe I could heal the one person I cared about most.

I gently laid my hands on Anna's forearm as she squirmed in discomfort. Closing my eyes, I tried to recall the thoughts I was thinking when I had healed my own hand in Ms. Peters' office. I imagined her arm in perfect form. I imagined all the bones, tissues, ligaments and tendons all intact and working normally. I remembered Anna swimming in the lake last summer. I remembered her climbing the big oak tree on the island. When my eyes finally opened, the nurse and Anna were both staring at me. I quickly released my grip on her arm.

"What are you doing?" Anna asked as she raised her eyebrows and gently rubbed her arm.

"I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you?" I stammered as I reached for her arm again. She pulled away.

"Strangely," she said as she raised her arm in front of her and twisted it slightly, "it doesn't hurt that bad."

"You shouldn't have squeezed her arm," the nurse scolded.

"Again, I'm sorry," I said.

Anna was still twisting her arm as she peered at it questionably. "Does the bump look smaller to you?" she asked the nurse.

The nurse studied Anna's arm and ran her fingers over it again. "This doesn't hurt?"

"No," Anna confirmed. "In fact, it feels much better, actually."

"What about when you squeeze my fingers?" the nurse prompted Anna to tighten her grip.

"Nothing," Anna laughed.

"Well, kids, I don't know what to tell you. Anna, I don't think there's much sense in sending you to the hospital. Perhaps it's just a sprain. Take it easy for a little while, okay? And come back if it starts to hurt again."

"But you said it was broken," I challenged.

"I know. I thought it was." The nurse scratched her head. "I don't really understand it, but she seems fine now. The lump is gone."

Anna reached around and grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair. "Well, that's great news. Sorry to have wasted your time though."

"Oh, don't be silly. That's what I'm here for. Now run along and be careful." The nurse chuckled as she held the door open for us.

I nodded thanks and followed Anna through the door.

"We headin' to the hospital?" Noah asked as our eyes adjusted to the brightness of the outdoors. Quite a group had gathered. Word had travelled fast. The girls crowded around Anna to see if she was okay, while I watched protectively from behind.

"It's not broken," Anna said. I looked away to avoid Rachel's eyes, which were clearly aimed in my direction.

"Really?" Noah said, his confusion apparent. "But I thought . . ." He glanced quickly at Rachel.

"Yeah, it was weird. It felt broken. It hurt a lot, but then it started to feel a lot better as we sat there. And now it doesn't hurt at all." Anna wiggled her arm as proof.

"Yes, very strange indeed," Rachel agreed.

My eyes focused on Rachel who was now politely smiling at Anna. I put my arm around Anna's waist, led her toward the front of the lodge, and said, "I'm hungry. Who wants to eat?"

**Halfway through lunch** I got up to use the washroom. I hadn't noticed I was being followed until I rounded the corner and felt someone grab my arm and spin me around.

"Rachel, what the hell?"

"You," she hissed. "You used your gift."

"Pretty impressive, right?" I grinned as I pulled my arm from her grip.

"Impressive?" Her stone-cold eyes were far from impressed. "You could've been caught. That was just stupid, Jake. She wasn't dying."

"Yeah, yeah. So only use your gifts for life-or-death situations. Got it. May I be excused now?" I continued to smile, which only made Rachel angrier.

"That is why having a girlfriend is dangerous. You just don't get it! You're too focused on the wrong things!" She flung her arms up into the air and spun around to leave.

I shook my head. So high-strung. She needed to relax. It's not like she doesn't use her gift for everyday stuff. Wait, that reminded me . . .

"Hey, Rachel," I called after her. "I don't get it. You saw her arm in a cast. How did you see that when it didn't end up happening?"

She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned to face me. "I see what is meant to be. The only time that can change is if someone gifted"—she waved a disgusted hand in my direction—"gets in the way."

I pursed my lips to hold back a smile. "So . . . I can trump you?" Her defeated expression put a smile on my face.

"No, you can't trump me, you ass! UGH!" She threw her hands up again and stomped off.

This time I let her go.

#  **Chapter 9**

**The rest of** the day was pretty uneventful. I didn't let Anna out of my sight even though Rachel assured me that there would be no more drama. It was easy to convince Anna to play beach volleyball for the remainder of the afternoon since she was a little nervous about getting back on her skis. We decided it was time to call it a day around eight o'clock.

"I don't know about you guys," Eric said as we walked back toward the lodge, "but I'm finished. The hot tub sounds pretty damn good right now."

"I'm already there," Anna agreed as she pulled her elastic out, letting her blonde hair spill over her shoulders. "My body is killing me."

Eric's expression went from exhausted to ecstatic. My fist twitched. What was it about this guy that stirred my desire for blood? I decided he wasn't worth the extra effort it required to hit him.

" **Anna, your bag** is still in here. Did you want me to bring it to you?" I called down the hall as I unlocked the door to my room.

"Right. I'll come and get it. Just give me a sec." She disappeared into her room with Rachel trailing behind.

I held the door open for Noah and then we both crashed on the bed. The soft, plush mattress felt awesome under my tired body.

"Dude, so what's the deal with the bed? How come there's only one?" Noah asked.

"Eric's idea of a joke? Who knows."

"Aaah." Noah stretched out. "That was a lot of fun, man. Rachel's a surprisingly good skier. I'm wiped."

"Well, go ahead and get your beauty sleep then, I'm going to the hot tub." I tossed a pillow at his head as I got up to find my bathing suit.

"Why? So you can make sure Eric doesn't hit on your girl?" Noah hurled the pillow back, smoking me in the back of the head.

I pretended to think his observation was funny. "Like she'd ever fall for a prep like Eric."

A knock sounded at the door and Anna poked her head in. "You boys decent?"

"Come on in, Anna. We're just getting our trunks on." Noah hesitated for a moment, and then said with as much coolness as he could gather, "Is . . . Rachel coming?"

"You're such a dork, Noah. Yes, she's coming," Anna said. Noah blushed. I laughed.

"Knock, Knock," Rachel chimed as she strutted in wearing a black bikini and holding a towel over her arm.

Noah stared, which was embarrassing even for me. I threw my towel to distract him and asked if he knew where my bathing suit was.

"How the hell should I know where your bathing suit is?" He got up and walked to the bathroom to get changed. I rolled my eyes and dug my trunks out of my duffle bag.

"Hurry! Come on, we'll never get a spot in the tub if we're the last ones there," Rachel whined.

"So we don't get a spot in the tub, so what? I'm sure it won't be the end of the world, Rachel," I said before taking my turn in the bathroom to get changed.

**The hot tub** was full, just as Rachel had said it would be. I should've put more faith in her prediction. Eric, Lexie, Tyler and Monica were already soaking their tired muscles.

"Hey," Eric called to us as we walked toward them. "Come on in."

Anna pulled up a chair and said, "Looks full. We'll wait our turn."

"There's a spot right here on my lap, baby," Eric flirted as he exchanged a laugh with Tyler. Apparently they didn't get the memo about us being the hottest new couple.

Anna played along. "That's sweet of you, Eric . . . maybe Rachel or Noah could take it. I'm going to sit on Jake's lap."

The laughs echoed through the room as Tyler called, "Burned!"

I sat down in the chair next to the hot tub, pulling Anna onto my lap while I wrapped my arms around her smooth waist.

"Mmm, now this is relaxing," Anna moaned.

I was light-headed yet completely grounded at the same time. I was in absolute bliss holding Anna Taylor on my lap and feeling her warm skin against mine. Like floating on clouds. Like how it should be. Was meant to be.

**A couple of** hours later we were on our way back upstairs. My skin was wrinkly and soft. My muscles were relaxed.

"Well, we should get some sleep. More skiing and volleyball tomorrow." Anna smiled as she forced back a yawn.

"My body could use a break," I said. "Maybe we could do something different instead?"

"How about a hike?" Anna suggested.

"Sounds good to me." I kept my eyes locked onto Anna's. Her face was flush from the hot tub, her hair was wispy, and her eyes were getting heavy.

Rachel rested her head against Noah's shoulder and yawned, "Good night, guys. See you bright and early." She attempted a sluggish wave and turned to leave.

"Not too early, right?" I called after her to make sure she wasn't planning any morning attacks.

"Nine o'clock, sharp," she called back.

I rolled my eyes and reached for Anna's hand as Noah unlocked our room and then disappeared to give us some privacy. We stood face to face as our fingers played together.

"I don't want to say good night," I admitted as I brought her hand to my cheek and kissed her fingers softly.

"I know." Anna leaned into me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I kissed her forehead and stroked her smooth hair. My heart was playing a loud beat in my chest.

"So, let's not. Let's stay up and talk. I couldn't sleep right now anyway." I pulled away to watch her face, hoping she was agreeable.

"I know what you mean. I'm tired, but I'm not ready for bed." Anna took a step back. "Let me go change and I'll meet you back here in a couple of minutes."

"Sounds good."

**We found a** cozy spot by the fire in the lounge area. I sat down at the end of the big leather sofa, pulled Anna down beside me and locked my arms around her. How could I have missed this before? How could the idea of "us" have never crossed my mind before? It was hard to pinpoint what it was about her that made me want to keep her next to me all the time now. She was irresistible. So smart. So beautiful. So sweet. She was everything.

"I feel so silly about the whole arm thing earlier today. I totally overreacted," Anna said as she rested her head on my chest and snuggled in.

I paced my breathing and replied, "You didn't overreact. What do you mean?"

"Well, you didn't see me when I fell. I was crying and everything. It hurt so bad, I thought for sure it was broken." Anna ran her hand over her arm.

"Anna, I am so sorry I wasn't there with you." I could've taken the pain away. I could've healed her before she felt anything. I should've been there.

"Jake, it's not your fault. You couldn't have changed anything."

"I know, but I just wish I was there for you." I lowered my head.

"S'okay. You're here now," she said sweetly. Lifting my arm slightly, she kissed my wrist softly, leaving her lips there for a tantalizing moment. It made my body go limp as I became completely defenceless. When her lips left my wrist, I could still feel their warmth.

The fire crackled, captivating us with its flickering flames and we stayed like that for several minutes. The lounge was nearly empty, with just a few other couples at the bar.

Anna giggled. "You know what I was just thinking about?"

I chuckled in reaction. "No, sorry, I can't read minds." Although that would have been a cool gift.

"I was remembering that time when we went camping a couple of summers ago and you were trying so hard—" Anna broke off to laugh. "You were trying so hard to start the fire."

I laughed as the memory returned to me. "I had everything in that fire pit—magazines, wood, leaves, toilet paper . . . food."

Anna was laughing so hard that her body was shaking. "And don't forget Noah's T-shirt!"

"Shh! He still doesn't know what happened to his shirt!" I laughed.

"You were so funny!"

"I was trying to impress you," I said, realizing it to be true.

"Oh, is that what you were trying to do?" Anna wiped a tear from her eye as her laughter dimmed. "I wish I would've noticed."

"Well, that's not as bad as the time we were building that tree house in your backyard," I casually reminded her.

"Oh, please. The tree house incident was your fault."

"You can't be serious. You were so high on your horse about being the first girl in our neighbourhood to build a tree house all by herself that you wouldn't let anyone help."

"Well, still. You knew what I wanted. You could've passed it to me," Anna giggled.

"Well, I'm glad I didn't. It wouldn't have been half as entertaining as watching you fall out of the tree trying to reach it." I laughed as I remembered Anna plunging several feet to the ground while she had been reaching for the hammer with a lasso rope—too stubborn to ask me to pass it to her. She was afraid people would find out that a boy helped her build the tree house.

We laughed as we continued to reminisce about the past few years. We had some great times together.

"It's weird, you know?" Anna said softly after a minute of silence.

"What is?"

"This." She ran her fingers up my arm, sending goosebumps sprawling across my skin.

"You mean us?" My heart skipped a beat as I said it.

"Yeah. How long have you liked me?"

I took a deep breath. "Truthfully?"

"Of course," she whispered.

"Consciously, just a few days."

"What do you mean consciously?"

"I mean, I guess I've always been attracted to you and always jealous of anyone you showed interest in, but I never thought of you as a girlfriend before you came back from Africa."

"And why now?"

"Because I realized that it makes me physically sick to think of you with another guy."

Even though I couldn't see her face, I knew she was smiling. She pressed her back into me and pulled my arms tighter around her.

"And what about you? How long have you known that you liked me?" I asked, not sure what I was expecting.

"Truthfully?" she said. "I'm not sure I do yet."

I squeezed her tightly, causing her to cough. "Not funny!"

"I thought it was," she laughed. "I don't know, actually. I guess I realized it when I was away these last few months and the only person I missed was you. But then again, there was a couple months last year when I couldn't get you out of my mind either."

"Really? When?" I said, trying to recall a time when she might have been more awkward around me.

"The two months you dated that cheerleader . . . Erin." She shuddered when she said her name.

I nodded, remembering how Anna never seemed to be around for those two months. It really bothered me, and I knew it had something to do with Erin, which is why I ended up breaking it off with her. I just figured Anna didn't want to be a third wheel; I never imagined it had anything to do with her being jealous. Adorable.

"Well, sorry about that. I promise never to do that again." I grinned.

Anna didn't respond right away. Then finally, she said, "I wonder how long this will last?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"You and me. I wonder how long it will take for you to get bored of me. And I wonder if we'll be able to be friends again after that."

I pulled her away from me, turning her so I could study her face. "Are you serious?"

She raised her eyebrows to suggest she was.

"Why would you say that?" I felt like she was breaking up with me already. I had never thought about the idea of us not working out. It hadn't crossed my mind at all because of how perfect and whole everything felt when she was near. "Do you not want to do this?" I asked reluctantly.

"No . . . I mean, yes!"

"What?" Clarification, please.

"I do want to do this. I definitely do. I have no doubt that I will not be the one screwing this up."

"Well, I certainly won't be."

"I hope so," she said with a sincere smile. "But you do have a reputation."

"I do not!"

"You haven't been in a relationship for longer than three months. You're always the one to break up with the girl and leave her heartbroken."

"I wouldn't say heartbroken."

"Trust me, Jake—I'm the one that the heartbroken girls call when you won't take them back."

"Yeah, sorry about that." I cringed.

"Yeah, so naturally I'm a little concerned. I don't want to end up like one of them."

I took her face in my hands. "Anna, I have put a lot of thought into us over the last few days. I wanted to make damn sure this was a forever thing, because I value your friendship too much."

"That's sweet, Jake."

"It's true." I brought her face closer and touched her lips with mine. Then I pulled her back into me and we watched the fire together as the lounge gradually emptied of its remaining guests.

"I can't believe how late it is," Anna sighed as she studied her watch. "Two thirty."

"I am not getting up at nine o'clock. I'll tell you that right now," I protested, remembering Rachel's threat.

Anna laughed. "Well, we could always take naps on the chairlift."

I smiled at the idea. My eyes were getting heavy, but I forced them open and held Anna closer. Our bodies fit together perfectly, like two puzzle pieces.

"We should go to bed, Jake. We'll look horrible tomorrow." Anna stretched.

"You could never look horrible."

"Ha! You're smooth."

"I guess there's always tomorrow." My body stiffened at the thought of letting her go.

"Always tomorrow," Anna agreed as she tilted her head back and met my lips with hers.

We got up and slowly walked back to our rooms. When we reached her room, I leaned in for another memorable, slow kiss. Her lips were so smooth. They still tasted like watermelon lip gloss, even though I thought I had kissed it all off.

"Sweet dreams, Anna Taylor."

"Dream of me," she whispered as her nose tickled mine.

"Always."

#  **Chapter 10**

**The next morning** started with a nine a.m. wake-up call just as Rachel had promised. On any other day I would have rolled over and ignored it, but I was still on a high from the night before. I jumped off the couch and grabbed a quick, hot shower. Noah was just waking up when I was ready to head down for breakfast.

"Ugh," Noah groaned.

"Meet you downstairs, buddy. The girls are waiting." That woke him up a little.

"Rachel?" Noah asked as he stretched.

"Yeah, you slept through her wake-up call. She's downstairs already waiting. I'll keep her company 'till you get there," I teased as he stumbled out of bed toward the shower.

I stepped out into the hall and noticed Anna leaving her room. I waited for her to catch up and greeted her with a big smile. She was so beautiful—even with just a few hours of sleep and her hair pulled up in a messy ponytail.

"You're gorgeous," I pointed out as I took her hand.

"You're full of it." She laughed as she nudged me on my side.

We walked hand-in-hand down to the breakfast lounge. It felt like my smile was permanently tattooed on my face. Rachel waved us over to the table where everyone was already seated and eating.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones to be graced by Rachel's early morning wake-up call," I said as we approached the table.

"I'll be right back. I've got to go to the washroom," Anna whispered.

"Did you want me to order you something?"

"Ham and eggs and milk to drink, please." She winked and left for the washroom.

I turned to sit down. Rachel slid over to sit next to me and then whispered so no one else could hear, "We need to talk."

"About?" I pulled the menu up and studied it.

"You and Anna."

"Didn't I already tell you to mind your own business?"

"You don't understand, Jake. There's more to it."

"Then tell me, Rachel. What is the big deal?" I raised my eyebrows in anticipation of a big revelation. She had my one hundred percent attention.

"Nothing. Never mind." She looked away and bit her lip.

I snickered. "You're something else, Rachel." I shook my head and looked back at the menu.

We placed our orders a few minutes later. Then Noah sat down between Rachel and me. "Did I miss anything?"

"Slide down. That's Anna's seat," I told him.

"Relax, dude. I just passed her in the hall. She's talking to Eric."

I stiffened as I turned to face Noah. I tried hard to fight the emotion that overcame me at that moment. My heartbeat quickened as nausea settled in.

"Jealous?" Rachel mused.

That must be it.

"Whatever." I shoved the thought into the back of my mind and tried to focus on the menu again.

A few minutes later Anna came back into the room and sat down. She was smiling at something she obviously found amusing.

"What's so funny?" I asked as I handed her the glass of milk she had ordered.

"Oh, nothing. I just . . . Eric. He's a character."

Rachel and Noah turned to gauge my reaction.

I tried to maintain my cool. "Yeah, Eric sure is a character."

Silence.

"Uh . . . why? What did . . . what did Eric do?" I chuckled as if I already thought what she was about to say was pretty funny.

I could see a smile play at the corners of Rachel's mouth. Noah lowered his head into the menu.

Anna sipped her milk from a straw and laughed again. "Nothing, really. He was just being a goof. Making fun of Tyler. It was funny." She looked up at my blank expression and then to Noah who had obviously not caught the humour either, and said, "I guess you had to be there?"

"Yeah. No, I'm sure it was funny." That strange feeling of jealousy returned.

"Anyway," Rachel interrupted coolly, "let's eat and get this show on the go."

"That sounds good to me," Noah agreed.

Suddenly Rachel gasped. I looked at her, puzzled. She was staring straight ahead, wide-eyed, at . . . what? Before I had a chance to ask, her eyes refocused and she was back.

"I was thinking," Rachel began calmly as she slowly turned to face us with a fake smile, "that we should head home. What do you guys think?"

"Already? We didn't even get any runs in yet," Anna protested.

I knew enough to know that Rachel had a vision. And by the looks of it, it wasn't good.

"I know, but the whole resort is going to be taking off right after lunch and we don't want to be caught in all that traffic. Besides, my body's had enough—haven't you guys?" Rachel faked a yawn and looked at Noah for encouragement.

Noah said, "I was thinking the same thing. Let's go."

"Yeah, yeah, sounds good to me," I added with a smile.

Anna looked confused but I could tell she wasn't overly disappointed. She shrugged. "Okay, I guess that makes sense. I didn't get much sleep last night so I wouldn't have lasted very long today anyway." She winked at me and blushed a little.

"So it's settled," Rachel said. "I'll spread the word to everyone else in case they want to follow suit."

**We were on** our way home, about a half an hour from the resort, when several emergency vehicles, travelling in the opposite direction, passed us: ambulances, police cars and fire trucks. We all fell silent as we watched from the shoulder of the road as they flew by.

"Wow, it looks pretty serious. I wonder what happened?" Anna's sympathetic voice trailed off.

"Yeah, it does." I noticed a slight tremble in Rachel's voice. I think Noah did too because he turned to gather more information from Rachel's expression. It was blank. She was deep in thought.

"Why don't you scan the radio stations, Rachel? See if there's anything on the news yet," Noah suggested.

Rachel scanned the stations. Nothing. Then my phone started to ring. I fumbled through the pockets in my jacket, located my phone, and answered it.

"Eric, what's up?" I glanced at Anna with a confused look. Anna mimicked my expression as she studied my face.

"Dude, are you guys okay? Where are you?" Eric was panicked.

"Yeah, we're fine. We're almost to Truro. Why? Where are you?" I had a sinking, bad feeling about this. I wanted to see what Rachel had seen. To know what Rachel knew. I turned to study her face. She was pale, waiting for answers too. I turned on the speakerphone and held it out for everyone to hear.

"We're still here. We were packing up to leave and we heard all this gunfire and screaming. It's crazy, man. I don't know what's going on down there." Eric's voice was shaking. "I hear sirens now. Dude, this isn't good."

Noah spun the Jeep around and started speeding back towards the resort.

"We're on our way back, Eric. Where are you now?"

"Me and Tyler are in my room, but Lexie and Monica were downstairs in the lobby waiting for us. There's no answer on their cell phones. Dude, this really isn't good."

Rachel took the phone from me. "Eric, it's Rachel. Listen, don't go anywhere. Stay in your room. The shooter is likely still in the resort. Don't call Monica or Lexie again. They've shut their phones off. Put your phone on vibrate in case we have to call you back. Lock the door and don't make a sound. We saw emergency crews heading toward the resort, but just stay there until we come and get you."

There was silence as we all stared dumbfounded at Rachel. She shrugged and handed the phone back to me. "I just heard it on the radio," she said, an obvious cover for Anna's sake.

I hung up the phone with Eric so we could keep the line clear in case Monica or Lexie tried to call. We all sat in silence as Noah sped back to the lodge. What should have been a thirty minute drive only took us about fifteen. Anna was now sitting so close to me that I could feel her breathe. She squeezed my hand to her chest. I looked at her and saw that her eyes were pressed closed and her lips were fluttering quickly. She was praying. This was something I had seen Anna do periodically over the last three years. She prayed for the baby bird that fell out of the tree in her backyard. She prayed when her parents went away to third world countries. She prayed before every exam. She prayed for everyone and everything. Her parents were never harmed, and she always aced her exams; her success rate was quite good, so I thought it couldn't hurt to give it a try. I closed my eyes and had a silent talk with the Man upstairs.

Hey Big Guy. Just wondering if you can hear me. Not sure how this whole prayer thing works, but here goes. I paused and took a breath, searching for appropriate, God-friendly words. Anyway, as you know, there's a situation going on right now at Wentworth. You know which one I'm talking about? Well, of course you do. Anyway, I don't know how bad it is, God, but if you would be so kind as to spare my friends' lives, I would pay you back somehow. You know, I'll try to be a better person or something.

I peeked through one eye at Anna who was still praying. I decided I should keep going too. God, if you can hear me, can you just send me a quick sign so I don't feel like such an idiot for talking to myself? I mean, I know I'm not supposed to ask for signs, but . . .

And before I could finish, a huge clap of thunder rumbled and shook the car. Anna jumped and I took the opportunity to hold her closer. It could've been a coincidence, but I took it as a pretty clear sign.

"Look at those rain clouds coming in," Anna said as she leaned over me to peer out the window.

Thick, black clouds were rolling in from the west. Noah slowed and turned his wipers on full as we neared the resort. The police had the road barricaded and we couldn't even get close enough to see the parking lot. The emergency vehicles were lined up, getting ready to go in.

"What's going on, Rachel?" I asked as I tried to get a better look.

"I don't know. I suspect the police are trying to secure the building first before they send anyone in."

My phone started ringing again. I answered it without noticing who was calling.

"Hello?"

Silence. I listened closely and could hear some background noise but no voice. I held the phone away to check the number. "It's Monica," I gasped.

"Jake?" I could hear her faint, desperate whisper.

I lowered my voice. "Monica, are you okay?"

"Jake . . . I'm scared."

"Where are you, Monica? Where's Lexie?"

I listened closely as Monica continued, "Jake, they're killing people. I'm hiding behind the Pepsi machine in the lounge. I got separated from Lexie when they started shooting and everyone started running. . . . I can see them, Jake. I can see them. . . . I think Lexie's dead. I think she's dead." Monica's whimper was barely audible.

Without thinking, I jumped out of the car and ran toward a group of police officers who were taping off the property. Anna, Noah and Rachel followed close behind.

"Hey!" I shouted as I neared the group.

One of the officers turned his attention to me and commanded, "Stay back! Go back to your vehicle!"

"No! My friends are in there. I have one of them on the phone and she can see the shooters. They are killing people in there!" I shouted as the cold rain soaked through to my skin.

The police officer turned his attention to me and stared at the phone in my hand. "Stay there," he ordered before jogging off toward the sergeant. But we didn't. I held up the tape and pulled Anna through. Rachel and Noah followed us to the front line.

"I thought I told you to stay there!" the police officer barked when we approached.

The sergeant motioned toward my phone. "You have someone on the phone who's inside there?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," I answered. I explained how Monica was trapped and that she could see the shooters. The sergeant took my phone and we listened as he asked Monica about her location, how many shooters there were and what their locations were. Then the sergeant held a radio to his lips and relayed the information to the Emergency Task Force. We watched nervously as a half-dozen men in black quickly surrounded the building. And then they entered.

I leaned into Rachel and whispered, "What happens next?"

She whispered back, "I don't know. I didn't see this far ahead."

"Well, can't you think about it and figure it out?" I urged as a wave of frustration came over me.

"It's not like that, Jake. I can only see flickers of things sometimes. I can't control when they come and I can only see a short time into the future. I can't see the outcomes of a lot of events when there are Gifted Ones involved." She lowered her head and dug her heel into the mud. "I'm still learning too."

No matter how inexperienced we both were at using our gifts, we were needed today. I knew I could help people—I was certain of it.

#  **Chapter 11**

**We waited for** several minutes until the sound of a gunshot split the air. Then another. Then, from the sergeant's radio, the words: "Area is secured. Shooters are down. Send in as many paramedics as you have." An ambulance squealed past us. And another. Noah started running first, and then Rachel. I grabbed Anna's hand and we ran after them. Into destruction. Devastation.

People were crying and running out of the building and into the waiting arms of trauma personnel. Others were screaming the names of their loved ones as they frantically searched the crowd. Paramedics rushed in with stretchers, looking for victims. We caught up to Noah and Rachel and fought against the crowd to get into the building.

"Noah! What are you going to do?" I shouted as I grabbed his arm.

"We need to find Monica and Lexie!" He stopped and surveyed the sea of people. "Rachel, you and Anna stay out here and keep your eyes open. Jake and I will go inside."

Anna squeezed my hand. "Jake, I . . . I . . . be careful."

I grabbed her and gave her a quick kiss. So thankful that she was safe. So grateful for Rachel's vision. "Here, take this," I said as I handed her my cell phone. "Call Eric and tell them what's going on. It should be okay for them to come down now."

**We entered the** lodge unnoticed as emergency crews ushered the unscathed out of the building and the paramedics helped the wounded. Dozens of people were lying injured, which was mind-numbing to witness. I wanted to help them, but first—where were Monica and Lexie? God, please let them be alive.

"Over here!" It was Noah, tugging at a Pepsi machine.

"Monica!" I hurried to help Noah. "How on Earth did you get in there?"

"I don't know; just get me out of here." Monica's face was stained with tears and her whole body was trembling.

Noah and I counted to three and edged the machine away from the wall just enough to get Monica out. She collapsed into my arms and cried uncontrollably. I tried not to imagine the scenes that had unfolded in front of her eyes only minutes earlier. I held her for a long time, rocking her gently and telling her it was going to be okay.

Pandemonium was all around us. A guy about my age sat on the floor with his head in his hands as he rocked back and forth and cried for his sister, whose body was covered with a white sheet at his side. A woman sobbed as she cradled her husband's lifeless body in her arms. A young child curled up beside his bleeding mother who lay still beside him. An arm, soaked in blood, reached out for help from behind the bar.

I stopped rocking Monica and stared at that familiar, blood-stained limb. Blue nail polish. Yellow watch. "LEXIE!"

Covered in blood, Lexie was lying on her back. By the looks of it, she had been shot in the shoulder. Her eyes were glazed over and she fell in and out of consciousness.

"Lexie, hang in there," Noah commanded as he tore off his shirt and wrapped it around her shoulder. She didn't flinch. "Jake, stay here with Lexie. I'm going to take Monica out to Rachel and Anna. I'll get a paramedic for Lexie."

Noah shot a meaningful glance at me as he led Monica away. He mouthed, "Fix her, Jake."

I knelt down beside Lexie and reached out to hold her shoulder. She was breathing, but only just. She didn't try to say anything, but her eyes found mine and pleaded for help. I peered back at her and tried to remember the thoughts I had when I was healing Anna's arm.

I started thinking about Anna and how thankful I was that this wasn't her. Not that I wasn't concerned for Lexie, but if it were Anna . . . well, I couldn't even think about that. I owed Rachel big time for this. As annoying and intrusive as she could be, she had saved some of us today.

Before I knew it, Noah was back. "Jake, how is she?"

"Where's the paramedic?" I demanded, angry that I hadn't made any healing progress.

"I couldn't get one. There are a lot of people who need help. Is she any better?" Noah asked.

"No! I can't concentrate. I . . . I can't do it." I shook my head in frustration, admitting defeat.

"Snap out of it, Jake! You have to do this. She will die if you don't."

I closed my eyes and my hands kept the pressure on Lexie's shoulder. I tried to think of something positive. Something other than all of the devastation that was surrounding us. My mind was spinning. Think, Jake! Think!

"Jake!" Noah shouted as he knelt down beside Lexie and held her head in his lap. "Hang in there, Lexie. You're going to be okay."

Lexie's eyes rolled back and her body started trembling.

"No, Lexie! HELP! SOMEONE HELP US!" Noah shouted over his shoulder.

I turned to see a female paramedic looking in our direction. I waved her over and moved aside. My head was still spinning and I felt queasy and drained. Noah and the paramedic carefully moved Lexie onto a stretcher as I watched, motionless.

And then I was alone, surrounded by chaos and blood. I frantically looked around the room for a familiar face. People were pleading and crying for help. I stared at the little boy who was still curled up beside his unconscious mother. He too was alone and scared. I walked toward them and crouched down beside his mother. The little boy looked up at me with hope in his big, brown eyes.

"Hi," I said, my voice sounding as weak as I felt.

He tried his best to smile, but his lip only quivered as he whispered, "Can you fix my mommy?"

"I hope so," I said as I unzipped his mother's jacket to reveal the hole in her chest. I quickly covered it up again and took a deep breath. "What's your name, little man?"

"Liam," he said softly.

"Well, Liam, why don't you hold your mommy's hand and I'll see if I can fix her for you?"

Please, God. Please.

I hesitated as I decided where the best place to put my palms would be. I closed my eyes, took another deep breath and placed my cold, trembling hands onto her chest. The warm blood saturated them.

I tried to think positive thoughts but all I could think about was this little boy without his mother. I watched as Liam pulled his mother's hand to his lips and kissed it. A tear trickled down his face and onto her fingers. I could hear his quiet pleas for her to wake up: "Please wake up, Mommy. I want to go home. Please, Mommy." This poor child was waiting for his mother to sit up and give him a big, warm hug. He needed her. My eyes filled with tears.

"Hey, excuse me! This lady needs help over here," I called to a paramedic, as calmly as possible.

The paramedic turned to me and answered with confidence, "That one's gone. I've already checked her. Move on to someone who has a chance."

My eyes jolted back to the lifeless woman. Until that moment, I hadn't noticed the white sheet that had been covering her body. Oh, no.

"That man said he can't fix my mommy," Liam told me with wet eyes. "Can you do it, please?" He pulled a Band-aid from his pocket and handed to me. I slowly took it, and that's when I noticed the dozen or more Band-aids stuck to his mother's face, arms and chest.

I wanted to fix her. I had wanted to fix Lexie too, though. I just couldn't do it. I wasn't strong enough. I started getting angry at my gift. Why me?

I looked again at Liam and at his lifeless mother whose chest was still beneath my hands. My eyes stung as I thought about this woman tucking her little boy into bed at night. I thought about all of the times that she had kissed his bumps, wiped away his tears and held him in her arms for just one more minute before letting him go off to school on his own.

"You're doing it, mister." Liam's excited voice broke through my train of thought.

I looked down and watched as his mother turned her head ever so slightly toward her son and let out a small, but definite, sigh. I jumped back and called over to the paramedic, "She's alive! I need help over here!"

The paramedic came running with a stretcher and took over. I looked at Liam who was still holding his mother's hand, and staring at me with pure adoration.

"Thank you," he choked, as the tears poured out of his eyes.

I managed a wink as I held back my own tears. I hadn't exactly healed her, but at least she wasn't dead.

**Several minutes later** I found Anna and the others huddled together by an ambulance. Eric and Tyler were now with them, safe and accounted for.

"Jake!" Anna shouted as she ran to meet me. She looked pale and frightened. I held her in my arms and kissed her forehead.

"How is she?" I asked as I pulled away from Anna and nodded toward Monica who was wrapped in a blanket and surrounded by friends.

"She's been better. She's really shook up. They took Lexie to the hospital. We were just waiting for you so we could all follow together," Anna said. She looked down at my blood-covered hands and gasped, "What happened to you? Where were you?"

"I . . . I was trying to help someone . . ." my voice trailed off as I caught sight of Liam and his mother being carried out of the lodge on a stretcher.

Anna followed my gaze and asked, "Is she okay?"

"I hope so."

Rachel and Noah joined us and we watched as they loaded the pair into an ambulance.

"She'll be okay," Rachel whispered.

"And the kid?" I felt for this little boy. For this child who had seen way more than his little eyes should have.

"You helped him, Jake. You helped him get through the worst minutes of his life. And in doing that, you helped to heal his mind," Rachel said as she tried her hand at comforting me. It worked a little.

"I just wish I could have done better." I looked back toward our group of friends who were still deep in conversation.

"Lexie will be fine too. You're new at this, Jake. You need practice. You need training."

I knew she was right, but I couldn't help but feel guilty for not being able to help Lexie. If she died, I would never be able to forgive myself.

A sound intruded my thoughts—my cell phone. Anna handed it back to me.

"It's my mom," I announced as I read the caller ID. "Mom?"

"Jacob? Jacob! Where are you? Are you okay?" Mom had heard the news.

"Mom, I'm fine," I confirmed. "We weren't here when it happened, but we turned around and came back as soon as we heard."

"Oh, thank God!"

"But Lexie was here, Mom. She's been shot. We're going to the hospital now."

Mom gasped, "Alexis Stevens? Little Lexie?"

"Yes, that Lexie. I'm not sure of her condition. She's on her way to the hospital in an ambulance now, but will you do me a favour and take a drive over to her house to let her mother know what's going on?"

"Yes, darling. I'll do that. And I'll see you when you get home. I love you, Jake."

"I love you too, Mom."

I hung up the phone and looked over at Anna who had been listening. I felt like kissing the smile on her face. Then I thought—why not? Several seconds went by with my lips pressed to hers as I thanked God for sparing her life. My life.

#  **Chapter 12**

**Even though the** early morning traffic was light, the drive to the hospital with Noah, Rachel and Anna seemed much longer than I remembered it to be.

"Has anyone heard how she's doing today?" Rachel asked, breaking the silence.

"I talked to her mother this morning," Anna answered. "She's doing better, but hasn't said anything since . . . the accident. Her mom heard her sleep talking last night though. The doctor said it's normal for someone to be mute after experiencing something traumatic like this." Anna looked out the window when her voice started to quiver. I reached across and held her fidgeting hand. We continued our journey in silence.

" **Anna," Ms. Stevens** called down the hall when we got off the elevator. Lexie's mother was pacing the hall outside of Lexie's room.

Anna ran and greeted her with a hug and they both consoled each other. Ms. Stevens looked up at the rest of us and tried to smile as she composed herself.

I pursed my lips and smiled slightly, nodding. "How is she?"

Ms. Stevens dried her eyes with her worn-out tissue before answering. "She's awake. Doctor said her shoulder will be just fine. Maybe you can talk to her. She won't talk to me. She only stares out the window. And whenever anyone talks around her, she covers her ears and just cries silently." Ms. Stevens fought back more tears. "She doesn't want anyone talking to her."

Anna went straight into the room without another word, followed by Noah. I hesitated. What if she looked at me and said her first words: "You failed me."? That's ridiculous, I thought. As far as she knows, I'm normal. No normal person could've done anything to help her.

"Are you okay, Jake?" Rachel asked as she reached out to touch my arm, making me realize that I was pacing the floor and that we were now alone.

"Where's Lexie's mom?"

"In the room." Rachel took my hand. "It's not too late you know."

"For what?" I asked. "You heard Ms. Stevens. She's going to be fine. She doesn't need a healer anymore."

"But she does," Rachel said. "Her body may be healing on its own, but her mind still needs help."

I looked at her. Go on?

"You helped heal that kid's mind at the ski lodge. You can do it, Jake. I know you can."

"How can you be so sure?" I pulled away from her grasp. "I can't fail again."

"I saw it," Rachel said, looking down at the floor. "I didn't want to have to tell you that. But I had a vision you healed her mind. I know you can do it. Come on." Rachel pulled me into the room where everything felt cold and barren.

"Anything?" I asked Anna hopefully.

Anna was sitting next to Lexie, holding her hand as Lexie stared out the window. Noah was standing at the foot of the bed with his hands in his pockets, looking uncomfortable.

"Nothing," Anna answered. Lexie rolled over and pulled the pillow to her ear.

I backed up to the door and motioned for Ms. Stevens to follow. Then I whispered, "When she was sleep talking, what did she say?"

Ms. Stevens answered, "She screamed and then covered her ears and said, 'My ears! My ears!' But the doctors have checked her hearing and it's fine," Ms. Stevens said.

"I'm sure she'll start talking soon. This is probably a normal part of the healing process," I said, sounding way beyond my years.

"I know, Jake. I know. Thank you."

When we returned to Lexie's side, Rachel was suggesting to Anna that she take Ms. Stevens downstairs for something to eat. Anna stroked a piece of Lexie's hair from her forehead and then carefully let go of her hand. Lexie looked at Anna for a split second, then returned her gaze to the window.

"I'll be right back," Anna whispered to her.

Once they left, Rachel motioned for me to take a position up by Lexie's head. Noah gave me a questioning look, and I shrugged in response. I placed my hands over Lexie's ears and began thinking healing thoughts.

"What are you doing?" Noah asked quietly, but with every syllable he spoke, loud, thundering gunfire split the air. I threw my hands up and jumped back, crashing into a machine.

"What the hell, Jake?" Noah said, coming over to straighten the equipment.

I stared down at Lexie, who had begun crying again. I placed my hands over her ears again and said her name: "Lex?" And again, the sound of gunfire split through my voice, and she flinched.

"Guys! I think she hears gunfire whenever anyone speaks," I whispered, eyes wide on Lexie.

I put my hands back over her ears and imagined myself catching the bullets with every word that I spoke. "Heal . . . her . . . mind. . . . Erase . . . her . . . fears."

When I took my hands away, Lexie's eyes were closed and calm.

"Lexie?" Rachel whispered. Nothing.

"Is she asleep?" Noah asked.

"I think so," I confirmed.

We watched her rest for a few minutes until Anna and Ms. Stevens returned with a sandwich.

"She's asleep?" Ms. Stevens asked, surprised.

"Yeah, Rachel has that effect on people," I teased.

Rachel curled her lip at me and said, "Hopefully she'll feel better when she wakes."

Ms. Stevens wiped the tears from her daughter's cheeks. Lexie's eyes slowly opened and she reached for her mother's hand. "Mom?"

Ms. Stevens dropped her sandwich and grabbed both of her daughter's hands in hers. "Lexie!" Ms. Stevens laughed and cried simultaneously. "She talked! She said my name! Did you hear that?"

I couldn't help the smile that crept across my face from ear to ear. "I heard her," I said. And I couldn't help but notice Lexie didn't flinch when we spoke.

Lexie's eyes scanned the room as she slowly sat up, favouring her arm as she did. "Thanks for coming, guys."

"We're so glad you're feeling better," Anna said, relieved.

"Me too," Lexie said with a bit of a laugh.

"Well, we should probably head back to school and let everyone know how she's doing," Rachel said after a moment of hugs and silence.

"Anna, we'll be out in the hallway waiting," I said as I kissed her forehead, leaving her with Ms. Stevens and Lexie.

"Good job, man," Noah said once we were out of earshot.

"Thanks. I was kind of nervous, but Rachel told me she had a vision of me healing Lexie, so that helped to get me in there."

"Oh yeah? You had a vision?" Noah asked, turning his attention to Rachel.

"Well, kind of," Rachel answered.

"What do you mean—kind of?" I pressed.

"I may have just told you that so you would have more faith in yourself," she looked at me guiltily. "If you think you can do something, Jake, you can."

I smiled. "Okay, so that may have worked this time, but don't lie to me again, okay?"

She answered with a smile.

"But thanks anyway." I looked toward Lexie's door as Anna emerged. A bounty of conversation flowed through the halls as Lexie and her mother reconnected.

**We arrived at** school in time for recess, and were swarmed by friends looking for the update on Lexie's recovery. We reported to all that she was doing much better and should be out in a couple of days.

Tyler and Monica were sitting on our usual bench alongside the school when we approached.

"Hey," I said with a nod. "How are you both doing?"

"Better, thanks." Monica smiled slightly as Tyler held her close.

"Good to hear. Lexie is doing better. She should be back in a few days."

"I still can't believe she dodged that bullet," Monica said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"What do you mean?" I pried.

"You didn't hear the story?" Monica looked at me. "Lexie should be dead right now. That shooter had the gun aimed point-blank at her head. Then, just as he pulled the trigger, he slipped or tripped or something and the bullet went through her shoulder instead."

"No, I didn't know that." I looked to Anna who appeared just as shocked as me.

"And it was lucky that he slipped because it gave me the chance to hide behind that Pepsi machine." Monica's voice became distant as she recounted the frightening memory.

"Definitely had luck on your side," Noah said.

"But you're doing okay?" Anna asked, sitting next to her friend, genuinely concerned.

"I am," she nodded. "Just so thankful to hear Lexie's going to be okay. It's such a miracle she's still alive."

"Well, maybe not a miracle," Rachel added, with a touch of cynicism, "but I agree that it's pretty amazing."

**It was at** the beginning of biology class when Ms. Peters arrived at the door and excused Noah and me to help her with a "special project." We followed her down the corridor and out the front doors.

"Let's go for a little walk," Ms. Peters said as we headed around the building. "Fresh air and sunshine is always good."

Something wasn't right. Why would she take us outside for a walk unless . . . unless she had some bad news? Her smile immediately calmed my troubled thoughts—her gift had worked on me again.

"What's going on?" Noah asked.

"I just wanted to give you boys a heads-up that there is a training camp happening this weekend in Toronto."

"What is this training camp thing?" I asked.

"It's a three day intensive training camp where you'll meet Gifted Ones from all over North America and you'll have the opportunity to train in your specialized category."

"Okay," I nodded. "And that's this weekend? That's kind of short notice, isn't it?" What would I tell Anna about why I had to leave for the weekend?

"They don't give us much notice on these things," Ms. Peters explained. "Less chance of anyone finding out about the camp and causing problems for us." She paused as we rounded the corner, and when it was clear there was no one within earshot, she continued. "So our cover is that there is a national environmental conference going on in Toronto for high school students across the country. Our school has been chosen to send a group to represent our area. You will be the volunteers going on the trip, although you won't really be going. You'll go to training camp instead."

"Won't they notice if our group doesn't show up to this conference thing?"

"We'll be sending in five young Interpol agents to replace you for the three-day conference."

"Why five? Aren't there only three of us? Who else is going?" I asked.

"Two seniors from our school. They're also gifted. You'll have an opportunity to get to know them on the trip."

"So, Rachel's going too, right?" Noah asked casually, although his face turned pink. I tried not to laugh.

"Yes, Rachel will be going." Ms. Peters peered at him over her glasses. "You like her?"

I laughed, "Does he? Does he ever."

Noah threw a punch at me and scowled, "Rachel's her daughter, dude."

Ms. Peters let out a laugh. "It's okay, Noah. You're a good kid, so I don't mind. It's those other boys, like her ex-boyfriend, that I don't like her being around."

"Her ex wasn't a good guy?" Noah asked.

"Well, I shouldn't really say anything bad about him. Let's just say that he was a good kid at one point. He was a jealous boyfriend though, and jealousy will ruin you. Rachel broke up with him. She is much too smart for guys like that."

Noah nodded in agreement.

There was a silence, then Ms. Peters continued, "Jake, I understand that you have a girlfriend—Anna Taylor, is it?"

I felt my face get warm and my hands start to tingle at the mention of her name. "Yes, Anna Taylor. Do you know her?"

"I've heard of her. Seen her around the school. She's quite a cute little thing, isn't she?" Ms. Peters winked at me.

"I think the word is beautiful," I said, trying to suppress a grin. Given the opportunity, I could talk for hours about Anna. Tell her anything she wanted to know. I worked at slowing my heartbeat so I could hear Ms. Peters continue.

"I wanted to talk to you about that, Jake. I know you care a lot about Anna and this might be really hard for you to hear, so I apologize in advance." She stopped walking and turned to me. Although I knew I shouldn't, I somehow felt relaxed. I admired her gift.

"S'okay. Go on." I leaned in closer.

Ms. Peters spoke directly at me, each word stinging more than the last. "Jake, darling, it's not safe to have a girlfriend right now. I know it doesn't seem fair, but Anna is very vulnerable. With you becoming a Gifted One, the Defiers are immediately attracted to you and will want to know your weaknesses. Anna is your weakness."

"What do you mean? Who are these Defiers?" My stomach tightened.

"Well, for every good there is evil. The Defiers are those who defy the laws of the covenant and who can do as much damage as we can do good. They are always trying to weaken us," explained Ms. Peters.

"And you think that these Defiers will want to hurt Anna for some reason?"

"Of course they will. The only way to severely weaken a Gifted One is to take their source of power, which is oftentimes the person they love. When you are distracted and unfocused, you are very weak. Anna will be at great risk as long as she is your girlfriend, Jake. I'm so sorry to have to tell you that."

Everything inside of me screamed to tell her she was wrong and that I could protect Anna no matter what happened. That without Anna, I had nothing to fight for. I wanted so badly to prove her wrong, but I knew it was hopeless. Something deep down told me she was right, even though I hated the thought of it.

Ms. Peters continued, "The attack at the lodge . . . we have good reason to believe that was an attempt on your lives."

"What?" I reacted with surprise, although I had to admit that I had contemplated the same thing the day before.

"Interpol has been doing its own investigation. It appears that the men involved in that shooting were recently reprogrammed. Brainwashed, if you will. It is how the Defiers get random people to do their work for them," Ms. Peters explained.

"What do you mean reprogrammed?" Noah asked.

"Reprogramming is something that Interpol invented for when they capture any of the Defiers. They reprogram them with a new identity—give them new memories, and sometimes even a new family." She looked down at the ground. "And now the Defiers have learned how to reprogram people and they are using it to their advantage."

"So these Defiers kidnap innocent people, reprogram them, and have them go out and kill other innocent people?" I asked, fighting to make sense of it all.

"It's difficult to understand, but yes, that is essentially how it is done," Ms. Peters answered. "Which is why, oftentimes, the shooters end up committing suicide. That is how their programming ends."

"How do you know they were after us?" I asked.

"Your rooms were ransacked—the only two in the hotel." Ms. Peters' eyes were large and sorrowful. "I'm sorry, Jake. It's just too dangerous."

"Why? Why would they do that? Why would they target us?"

"We are very powerful people when left to our own devices. And they are very powerful people when left to theirs. That is why we are always at war with each other."

"But what about Noah and Rachel? You don't have a problem with that. Wouldn't a relationship between the two of them put Rachel in danger?"

Ms. Peters began walking again. "Two Gifted Ones are actually stronger together than they are apart. Rachel will always be in danger, and Noah would attract no more danger to Rachel than is already there. To subject Anna to that when she is defenseless and unaware is just careless."

"So what am I supposed to do?" I asked, swallowing the large lump in my throat.

Ms. Peters paused before telling me what I dreaded to hear. "You will need to break up with her, Jake. Leave her be. It is for her protection."

"And what if I don't want to?"

She stopped walking and slowly turned to me. "Jake, you've been given a great and powerful gift. You have a responsibility to protect people now. You have a responsibility to protect Anna."

I fought the urge to cry. Or yell. Or run. "But maybe I don't want this gift! Who says I have to keep it? There must be a way to get rid of it and have a normal life!"

Ms. Peters frowned. "I guess that's your decision. But you'll need to decide sooner than later. Once you sign the covenant, the only way to lose your gift is to turn to the dark side. And that's definitely not the best life for Anna either. So you have a decision to make."

"What covenant?" Noah and I asked in chorus.

"This training camp is a test to see if you are truly cut out for this. If you choose to continue, at the end of the three days there is a ceremony where you will become branded with the mark of the Gifted Ones. Once branded, you are bound to the covenant." She took my hands in hers. "But, Jake, without your gift, who will help protect Anna if something like this ever happens again?"

The words stung as they echoed in my head. I was frozen in my place as Ms. Peters continued walking toward the school. She vanished inside and Noah and I were left standing in the schoolyard by ourselves. Ms. Peters was right. I knew what had to be done. Break Anna's heart. And mine. But could I actually do it?

**We sat outside** for another hour until the lunch bell rang and everyone began filtering out through the doors. The moment Anna came out, the sky seemed to get brighter and the air smelled sweeter. Her face lit up as she caught sight of me.

"I can't do this to her." I started to panic. "I promised her I wouldn't hurt her. I promised."

"You're not doing it to her, Jake. You're doing it for her," Noah said.

Suddenly Rachel came through the doors and ran toward us shouting, "Jake! Over here! Wait!"

Shaking my head at Rachel, I reached for Anna's hand. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" I choked.

"Yeah, sure. What's on your—"

"First can I talk to you, Jake?" Rachel cut Anna off as she grabbed my arm and pulled me down the path toward the football field.

"Rachel, what the—" I pulled my arm back and stood my ground.

"I am so sorry, Jake," Rachel began in a low whisper. "I panicked for a second. I saw what you were about to tell Anna and I just needed to get you out of there."

"So? I don't get it. I have to break up with her. You know that."

"Yes, you do. I know. But you were about to create a big scene and that is not how it should go."

"No, I wasn't," I argued. "I was just going to tell her we shouldn't see each other anymore." That had been the best I could come up with under pressure.

"Well, I already had a vision about how that ingenious idea would've gone over. She gets upset and leaves crying, Eric comforts her, you take out your frustration on Eric, and then you get suspended." Her voice pleaded for me to reconsider. "Is that what you want?"

I shoved my fingers through my hair and held my head for stability as I thought through Rachel's vision. "How do I do it then?" I finally asked.

"Don't ask me. The last time I broke up with a guy, he turned all psycho on me. You're on your own." She reached over and stroked my arm. "Just try not to upset her too much, okay?"

I stared at her hopelessly, waiting for another vision to turn her eyes blank so she could give me some much needed advice on the situation. How do you tell your best friend and soulmate that you can't be with her?

"Sorry, that's the best I have. Good luck, Jake. I'm sorry." Rachel walked back to the group and left me standing there, with my back to the crowd and my heart in my stomach.

"You okay?" There it was—Anna's magical voice. The one sound in the world that I would never get tired of hearing.

I turned and gazed into her deep chocolate brown eyes—pools of mystery with a sparkle of sunshine. "Yeah, it's good. Sorry about that." I waved my arm toward Rachel, dismissing her.

Anna looked at Rachel and said, "What did she want you for?"

The uncertainty in her voice begged for understanding. I so badly wanted to tell her that she had nothing to be worried about with Rachel. I wanted to share our secret with her. I hated keeping secrets from Anna.

"Who, Rachel? Oh, she uh . . . she just . . . she . . . was just asking about Noah. I think she likes him." I shifted my weight and crossed my arms, something my mother always told me I did when I was lying. That's how she knew that it was me (not my little sister) who threw the baseball through the garage window last summer, and me (not the dog) who ate most of the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies off the counter last week.

Anna looked down at my arms folded across my chest, paused, and then said, "I see. Well, that would definitely be cool if they got together. We should hook them up."

"Yeah, that sounds good," I mumbled as I put my arms around her and pulled her close. I just wanted to hold her. I knew I didn't have much time left with her, so I wanted to soak up everything. Maybe it wasn't fair to her, but I needed it.

Noah and Rachel were watching us from the benches and exchanging quiet words with each other.

"Listen, why don't we get together after school? Something's bothering you and I need to know what it is. I want to help, Jake."

I nodded in agreement. My stomach was in knots.

"Meet me at the canoe at four o'clock. We'll go over to the island so we can have some privacy," Anna whispered as her fingers trickled down my chest.

Four o'clock. Okay. I had a few hours left before I had to end the best thing in my life.

#  **Chapter 13**

**The lake was** calmer than usual—small, steady ripples. I sat on the big rock beside the canoe staring out at the water as I waited. Anna was always very punctual and I knew she would be here at four o'clock sharp, so a glance at my watch indicated I had fifteen minutes to figure out what I was going to say.

I picked up a smooth, flat stone and skipped it across the water. One . . . two . . . three skips before it sank to the bottom of the lake. The ripples made their way to the shoreline by my feet, lapping at the grass and rocks. I wondered what kind of ripple effect this break up would have on Anna. I knew I had to make a clean break with her in order for her to be completely safe. As much as it would hurt me, it would kill me if anything ever happened to her.

I picked up another stone and rotated it at my fingertips as I studied its shape and texture. There was something about this one that made it special. One half of it was smooth and white, while the other half was rough and black. Both of the textured colours were fixed in the centre with one clean line, as if two rocks from two different planets had been welded together.

"What are you thinking about?" Anna's sweet voice interrupted my rock analysis.

Startled, I found her standing next to me. "You're early. That's not like you. What gives?"

Anna checked her watch and said, "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize I wasn't allowed to show up for another five minutes." She threw a life-jacket at me and began putting hers on.

"It's just that you're always on time," I reminded her.

"I guess I was just anxious to see you." She leaned in for a kiss, which I freely gave.

"So how old do we have to be before you stop making me wear this stupid thing?" I groaned as I zipped up the bright yellow life-jacket.

"Just protecting you, baby. Don't want to lose the best thing in my life."

I immediately regretted the direction that took. I was making this harder than it needed to be.

"What's that in your hand?" Anna asked as she took the rock.

"Oh, just a rock. I was skipping stones before you got here." I pulled the canoe into the water and readied it for launch.

"It's really pretty." Anna turned the stone over in her fingers as she studied it. "Don't you think?"

"Yeah, I thought it was kind of neat looking too."

"It sort of reminds me of us," Anna murmured, and then our eyes slowly met.

"How so?"

"I don't know really. It just does."

"Oh, I get it. You're the perfect, smooth side and I'm the rough, dark side. Thanks a lot." I laughed as I dropped the oars into the canoe. "Climb in before I leave you behind."

Anna studied the stone again, caressing it with her thumb. I reached over and snatched it from her hand, holding it over the water.

"What are you doing?" Anna laughed.

"Get in the boat or the rock goes overboard," I teased.

Anna rolled her eyes and reluctantly climbed into the canoe. "You're so difficult sometimes, Jacob Rovert."

I snickered and watched her plunk her oar into the water. Just as I was about to toss the stone overboard, I took one last look at its uniqueness and decided that it was special enough to keep. I buried it deep in my pocket.

We paddled our way through the calm water in silence. It took less time than usual, and in about twenty minutes we were tying up the canoe in our own private oasis.

"You know, we should really try swimming here sometime," Anna said as she watched me tie the canoe to the log.

"We swim here all the time," I reminded her, playfully.

"No, I mean, we should swim to get here. Like not take the canoe."

"That would take like an hour."

"Well, you'd have to wear your life-jacket of course," she teased. "But I could easily do it without one."

"I could do it too," I defended my honour.

"It's a long swim, Jake. I'm not sure you could make it."

"Oh, excuse me, Miss Olympic Swimmer." I rolled my eyes.

"Not Olympic, but I'm just saying I think I could do it."

"Well, how about we agree that you can, but that you won't ever try it, okay?"

"Someday I might. Would be a good challenge." She was provoking me, I thought.

"Okay, so how about only in a life or death situation." The idea of her swimming that distance on her own scared me. She was persistent and enjoyed challenge enough that I knew she would.

She laughed. "Sure, maybe."

**Anna and I** had discovered the island for the first time three summers ago. We had finally convinced her parents to let us take the canoe out by ourselves and we happened upon it, plotted in the middle of a seemingly forgotten lake that connected onto ours by a small river.

"Do you remember the first time we came here?" I asked as we started walking along the shoreline toward our path.

"What were we, like thirteen?" Anna laughed.

I chuckled. "You were thirteen. I was fourteen."

She turned to roll her eyes dramatically at me. "But do you remember how tired we were when we got here? We paddled for like three hours before we found this place. My whole body was sore for like a week."

"Yeah, and we were too tired to explore so we found that big oak tree and took a nap under it," I recalled.

"We slept all afternoon. It was great," Anna added as she slipped her hand in mine.

My stomach started to churn as I remembered the reason we were here. I suddenly became sick from the thought of disappointing Anna. Was this gift even necessary? What good would come of it, anyway?

"Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we go back to that old oak tree?" Anna said excitedly, reminding me of Abby on Christmas morning.

"Sounds good."

We walked in silence as we manoeuvred our way through overgrown bushes, fallen trees and large boulders. Although it only took thirty minutes to walk around the whole perimeter of the island, it seemed to take twice as long to find our way back to that old tree. Once we were there, however, there was no mistaking that we had found the right place. The large oak stood at least forty feet tall and spanned thirty feet wide from tip to tip. It was anchored on a slight hill, surrounded by knee-high grass and speckled with long-stemmed daisies. Here, the air seemed cleaner, the sun seemed brighter, and even Anna looked more beautiful than when we had first arrived on the island, if that was even possible.

"This is it," Anna confirmed. "Just as serene as I remember."

I led the way to the base of the tree and sat down, pulling her to sit in front of me so I could wrap my arms around her. I felt my pulse quickening as I realized that this was the first time Anna and I had been completely alone since we were defined as a couple.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, realizing she had been still and quiet for a few minutes.

"Kissing you." She tilted her head back and kissed my neck with her soft lips. Shivers crept up my spine.

"I like the way you think," I said as I closed my eyes and felt her warm breath on my neck. My palms started to overheat and my breathing got heavier as she turned and her lips found their way up my neck, then my chin, and finally my lips. Her fingers ran through my hair. I tightened my hold around her waist and pulled her in closer so that I could feel her inhale. I wanted her. I needed her. She playfully bit my lower lip and then pulled away.

"I needed that," she breathed.

"Me too." I kept my eyes closed, hoping for more.

Anna flipped around to sit in front of me again and put my arms around her waist. I smiled as I nuzzled my face into the side of hers. I would remember this moment for as long as I lived.

"So, are you going to tell me now what's been bothering you, or do I have to kiss it out of you?" Anna teased as she plucked a daisy from the tall grass next to us. She pulled a petal loose. "He loves me," I heard her say as the petal fell to the ground.

The sick feeling in my stomach returned just that quickly. How on Earth was I ever going to do this? Was there any way out of it? I had already thought about giving up my gift so that being with Anna wasn't a threat, but I knew that was first, extremely selfish, and second, extremely stupid as I would probably always be a threat. At least with my gift, I would have a defence against the Defiers. I had even thought about keeping Anna and my gift and hiring security guards to watch her day and night, but that would be impossible to do while keeping the secret. And what kind of relationship would we have if I had to keep this secret life? If I wanted the best life for Anna, I was going to have to let her go.

"Anna, first you need to know how much I adore you," I began as I squeezed her hand.

"Oh, you adore me now? This morning you just liked me. I wonder what it will be tomorrow," she teased. "He adores me not." She pulled another petal and let it fall.

It was hard to ignore the feathers tickling my lips. The corners of my mouth turned up in response. She always knew what to say to make me smile.

"Seriously, Anna, I have to say something that is going to tear both of us apart. I wish . . . I mean, if there was any way out of this I would grab at it with both hands. But there isn't. And it isn't you . . . I mean, it isn't your fault . . . I mean . . . you are everything I could ever want in a girlfriend, but, oh man, this is hard." To my embarrassment, my eyes were flooding with tears. One spilled out and ran down the side of my face, before I was able to quickly wipe it away.

Anna turned and stared at me with wide eyes. "Oh my gosh, Jake. Are you breaking up with me?"

I pressed the back of my head into the oak tree and stared at the sky, begging for another alternative.

"You're kidding me, right?" Her face had gone white and her lips were trembling. What I would give to take this all away.

"I'm not kidding, Anna. I wish I were." I hung my head in agony.

Anna slowly stood up. "Jake, what the hell are you saying?" Her hands were on her hips and her eyes radiated pain.

"Anna, I don't know. I want to be with you more than anything. It's just"—I stood up and reached for her hands, but she pulled them away and held them to her chest—"things are moving too fast." That was the best I could do. Baby steps. My chest was tightening and I was finding it harder and harder to breathe. Everything inside me told me to reach out and hold her. Pull her in close and never let her go.

"Too fast? Why, because you adore me now? Jake, I was kidding about the whole 'he loves me' thing. You know that, right?

"I know, Anna," I quickly assured her as my eyes found the half-plucked daisy still in her hands. She let it go and my heart sank with it.

"What's this all about? You're acting so weird." She took another step backward and I felt a stab in my heart as her unsure gaze studied me.

"I don't know," I stammered as I steadied my spinning head with my hands. "I don't know."

"Well, that's just great!" Anna threw her hands up in the air. "Does this have anything to do with Rachel?"

"No! Not at all, Anna. Trust me, there is nothing going on with Rachel." It hurt enough to do this to her in the first place, I definitely didn't want her thinking it was because of another girl.

"Then what is it?"

"I'm not strong enough to lose you," I blurted without thinking.

"That doesn't make any sense, Jake. You don't want to be with me because you're afraid you're going to lose me?" Anna didn't really buy it, thankfully. But then her eyes widened and her stance softened. "Does this have anything to do with what happened to Lexie?"

I looked down at the ground to let her question process. Lexie's near-death experience . . . my fear of losing Anna . . . Oddly, the two did relate, although maybe not in the same way Anna was thinking. I was scared of losing Anna like we almost lost Lexie. And if I stayed with her, that was a very real possibility.

"Well, does it?" Anna asked again.

"Yes," I admitted, still looking down at the grass and hoping that would be enough for her to understand.

"Well, that's just ridiculous!"

"Anna, it's just that if that had been you lying on that floor in the pool of blood, I would've lost my mind. I can't imagine how much harder it would be if I got any closer to you. I'm losing myself in you."

Anna stood with her arms crossed, staring at me for a long time, and then finally spoke, "Well, let me know when you get over your fear and you finally want a relationship. Until then, I guess we're not exclusive."

"Anna, I'm so sorry. This kills me to do this."

"Me too."

There was an awkward silence and then I finally gained the nerve to reach out again for her hands. This time she let me pull her in and hold her. My eyes welled up and tears slipped down my cheeks onto her golden hair. Just holding her and feeling her rigid but warm body against mine comforted me a little. I squeezed her tighter but she didn't reciprocate.

"Well, let's get out of here," she finally grumbled. "I'm getting hungry."

My heart was pulled apart in a hundred different ways. It hurt to breathe. The agony in her eyes as she turned away made my insides feel like they were crumbling apart. I just let the best thing in my life slip through my fingers.

#  **Chapter 14**

**The next morning** I woke with pains in my stomach. I couldn't remember exactly when I had fallen asleep, but I remembered seeing a blurry, red three followed by a colon and a couple of other blurs on my clock at one point, which was well after I had counted over three thousand sheep and rolled over at least half that many times. I considered staying in bed and skipping school, but I needed to see Anna even if she didn't want to see me. Really, I couldn't blame her. I rolled out of bed and stumbled into the shower as I struggled to keep my eyes open.

My breakfast went down with little enthusiasm. Oblivious to everything going on around me, I hadn't noticed that Mom had made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Mom chirped, kissing my head. I was thankful it wasn't Dad. I wasn't in the mood for sarcasm or lectures.

"Mornin'," I responded as I watched her pour herself a bowl of cereal. "You're in a good mood this morning . . . Why?"

"Why not?"

I gave her a puzzled look and then stated the obvious, "Well, for starters, you hate mornings."

Mom gasped. "Jake! I do not hate anything. How many times have I told you not to use that word?"

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Okay, then let me rephrase. You really don't like mornings. What gives?"

"Darling, today is the first day of the rest of my life. I figure I should start it properly. With a good attitude. You should try it too. It's very . . . uplifting." She waved her hands haphazardly over her head.

Mom was random. She was known for coming up with weird and so-called "wonderful" thoughts for the day. She enjoyed life and her infectious personality seemed to rub off on anyone who spent time with her. I guess that's why I would often find myself talking with her late at night when there was something bothering me. She had a special way of making things seem not so bad after all. I wished I had talked to her last night when I was feeling sorry for myself after breaking up with Anna.

Mom interrupted my thoughts. "Well, would you look at this." She walked over to the kitchen and ran her fingers across the cupboard doors.

"What is it?" I strained my eyes to get a closer look.

"It looks like a certain someone polished the cupboard doors last night while she was sleeping." She walked over to the dishwasher and opened the door. "And did the dishes too."

"Abby still sleep cleaning?" I laughed.

"Shh! She's coming. Don't say anything to her about this." Mom quickly closed the dishwasher and stood in front of it as she greeted Abby with a wide smile. "Good morning, darling."

"What?" Abby snapped as she glared at us. She wasn't a morning person either. Must run in the family.

"Mornin', Abby," I laughed as I stood up to put my dishes on the counter. "Mom, apparently Abby didn't get the memo on today being the first day of the rest of her life."

Abby reached out and smacked my arm. "Are you making fun of me?"

"And risk you not cleaning my room for me? Not a chance." I picked up my backpack and headed toward the door.

"Clean your room? You wish!" Abby shouted after me.

"Love you guys," I called as I closed the front door behind me. I could hear Mom assuring Abby that I had been acting strange all morning and that she had no idea what I was talking about. Abby had a way of putting a smile on my face, so I was glad I got to see her before I left for school. It took my mind off of Anna, even if it were just for a few minutes.

**Noah was sitting** in my driveway when I left the house, so I decided to leave my car at home for the day. We pulled into Noah's regular parking spot, the farthest from the school that he could get, and he cut the engine. He turned to me with a sympathetic face.

"What?" I snapped as I opened the door and climbed out.

"Why didn't you tell me, dude?" Noah got out and jogged around his car to walk the path next to me.

"Tell you what?"

"Rachel told me that you broke up with Anna last night. Why didn't you tell me?"

Leave it to Rachel and her prophetic visions. "Why would I? We're not girls."

"I don't know. I guess I figured you'd want to talk about it or something," Noah said.

"And I guess I figured, why break the peaceful morning silence by complaining about my love life or lack thereof?"

"Dude, this is hard on all of us. It's super strange what's going on with us and to have to change our whole world for it. And I know how you feel about Anna. How you've always felt about her."

"Thanks, but I'm okay," I lied. "She'll be safer this way."

**As rehearsed, the** morning messages over the PA announced that five students had been chosen to represent Bedford High at the environmental conference in Toronto on the weekend. "We are pleased to send our five volunteers: Claudia Henderson, Nick Murphy, Noah Morgan, Jake Rovert and Rachel Riley, to represent our school this weekend at the National Environmental Week Conference being held in Toronto."

Hesitantly, I turned to gauge Anna's reaction to the announcement. Her confusion was evident, but when she caught me looking, she rolled her eyes and resumed her position.

A few more minutes and we were dismissed to class. I got up slowly, hoping Anna would come and talk to me, but Rachel was standing in the way.

"So this should be fun," Rachel announced loud enough for everyone around to hear.

"Yeah, great fun," I sarcastically added.

"So we leave Friday morning." Rachel continued to talk although I had already tuned her out. "It's three whole days and I am so excited."

Anna was standing out in the hallway, seemingly waiting for us. I smiled and, much to my surprise, she smiled back. I held my hand up to Rachel, motioning for her to leave us alone, which she respectfully did.

"So you're an environmentalist now," Anna commented as we slowly walked down the hall together.

"Well, yeah, I guess. I just thought it would be fun to go," I lied.

"Since when do you care about the environment?" she asked.

"I care. I care a lot, actually. I just don't show it very often." I bent down and snagged a chip bag off of the floor and held it up as proof.

"Sure." Anna snatched the litter from me and tossed it into a nearby garbage can. "And Rachel is going too?"

"Geez, Anna. You have to believe me on this. There is no attraction there at all." I grabbed her shoulders and turned her toward me so she could read my face.

"It doesn't matter, I guess. We're not together anyway." Anna looked past me with an expression that I could only read as annoyed.

"Hi Anna." It was Rachel. She was like a bad dream I couldn't get rid of. What was her deal?

"Hi Rachel." Anna showed her teeth in a weak attempt to smile.

Rachel linked her arm through mine and said, "So, Jake, are you excited about the retreat this weekend?"

I rolled my eyes and pushed Rachel away. "Horrible timing, Rachel. Really."

"It's okay. We're not together. I don't care." Anna turned and quickly walked away, disappearing into a crowd of freshmen who were fighting their way to class.

"I was only trying to help her get over you," Rachel said.

"Well, you're not very good at helping. Perhaps you should just stick to fortune-telling." I kicked the wall and stormed off.

#  **Chapter 15**

**The next few** days passed in the same agonizing fashion. It was awkward being around Anna when all I wanted to do was hold her and tell her how I would never let anything happen to her. I was beginning to resent my gift. If it was such a gift, then why did I have to give up so much for it?

The group of us "environmentalists" were scheduled to leave from the school just before first period on Friday morning. I was looking forward to seeing Anna once more before I had to leave. I had just walked into the school with Noah when Anna jogged over to us.

"Hey guys," Anna chimed. Hearing her voice felt like the breath of air you get when you open a window in an old attic room—a huge relief after feeling suffocated from the thick dust.

"You look great," I stated, as obvious as it was.

Anna laughed, dramatically flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Don't I always?"

"You have no idea." An excitement churned inside of me. Anna was being cordial; she wasn't avoiding me. Was she okay now?

"Yeah, so did you hear about my little visitor last night at three in the morning?"

Visitor? What visitor! I felt instantly protective. "Who on Earth would visit you in the middle of the night?"

"Relax. It was Abby. She was sleepwalking." Anna laughed.

Although relieved for Anna's sake, I was now sick about the fact that Abby was sleepwalking outside . . . in the middle of the night!

"Are you kidding me? Why? Is she okay? What did she say? What did you do?" I had a million questions, but mostly I just wanted to know she was okay and that she made it home safely. I hadn't seen Abby this morning before I left for school, so my mind was racing and my stomach was turning.

"She's fine. I walked her home after she was done. Your mom met me at your door after I called her to let her know I was bringing her back. She was frantic. I'm surprised she didn't tell you this morning."

"No, she didn't. Come to think of it, I didn't get to see either of them this morning when I left for school. What was Abby doing at your house? Did she clean your kitchen too?" My stomach was settling now that I knew she was okay, although now I was concerned for my mom, who was paranoid enough as it was. This incident would likely cause her to set up camp outside Abby's bedroom door every night for the rest of her life.

"It was weird. She rang the doorbell, which scared the life out of me. Gretta answered the door." Anna paused, suppressing a laugh. "It was priceless, Jake. Gretta had this frying pan in her hand. She was ready to fry an intruder." Anna laughed as she recounted her nanny's actions. "Then Abby politely asked if she could speak to me privately. I could tell she was sleepwalking because she mumbled a lot and her eyes were hardly open."

"Yeah, that's her," I said, nodding in confirmation. "So weird that she would do that. It's kind of creepy actually."

"Yeah, so then she hands me this piece of paper"—Anna held up a folded piece of paper in her hands—"and tells me not to lose hope."

I took the paper from Anna's hand and slowly unfolded it. I felt the colour drain from my face as I recognized the paper and its markings. It was mine. It was a piece of paper that I had been doodling on in my bedroom a couple of nights before when I was supposed to be doing math homework. I vaguely remembered what I had doodled, and I never dreamed it would end up anywhere other than in my garbage can.

My eyes pinballed the page from the heart in the centre, which encased Anna's name in big block letters, to "Jake loves Anna" in big block letters, to a pathetic attempt at a daisy with three missing petals. My eyes finally rested on a poem at the bottom of the page. The colour returned to my face, in a deep crimson, as I silently read the poem:

No matter where I go,

I need you to know.

No matter what I do,

I will always love you.

I slowly folded the paper and held it out for Anna. My eyes weren't yet able to find hers. So embarrassing. I felt a slew of emotions toward Abby. Although I was relieved that she was safe, I wasn't sure harming her when I got home wasn't entirely out of the question. Why would she do this to me—consciously or not?

"Keep it. It's yours." Anna said as she pushed my hand back toward me with the paper still folded between my fingers.

"This is embarrassing," I admitted.

"Don't be embarrassed. I thought it was super sweet. So I decided to make one for you too." She handed me another piece of paper, folded in the same way.

I opened it up to a page full of drawings and writings, similar to the ones that I had drawn with her in mind, but in her own handwriting. And at the bottom, she wrote the same poem and signed her name beneath it. As embarrassed as I still was, I also felt relieved.

"Thank you . . . so much," I said after I had re-read each word at least three times.

"Thank you." She winked.

Then I handed mine back to her. "Keep this then. But if you show anyone, I might have to kill you." I laughed as I pulled her in and held her tightly. The sweet, lavender smell of her hair filled the air. I pressed my cheek to her head and just wanted to squeeze tighter and tighter. I would have to remember to thank Abby later.

"What does this mean for us?" Anna finally asked as I released her.

"Anna," I started, "I just can't be with you. Not right now. I wish I could explain it better than that."

"I don't get it, Jake." She lowered her eyes to the ground and slid the paper into her pocket. "But I trust you." It was exactly what I needed to hear her say.

Noah and Rachel interrupted us with the announcement that we were leaving now for the airport.

"Can we talk more when I get back?" I hoped.

"Yeah, I'd like that." She smiled meekly and then winked. "Have a good weekend."

My heart fluttered as she walked away. I missed her already.

**The two-hour** plane ride to Toronto was comfortable in first class where I could stretch out and listen to my music with little distraction from anyone; however, the three-hour, cramped car ride to our destination wasn't made any easier by Rachel's constant chattering. Nick drove the rental car, and Claudia sat up front with him, which left Rachel sardined between Noah and me in the back seat. I tried numerous times to nod off, but just as I was starting to drift, Rachel would start with another mind-numbing story.

Nick and Claudia were seniors at Bedford High. Claudia was captain of the cheerleading squad, and Nick was probably the most famous face at Bedford High, as he was the starting quarterback on the rugby team. They had been a couple for as long as I had known of them.

Finally, Nick interrupted one of Rachel's monologues. "So, Jake and Noah?"

It didn't matter what he had to say because it had to have been better than listening to Rachel. I sat up straight and leaned forward. "Yeah."

"Have you been told yet about your other gifts?" Nick asked in a casual tone.

Other gifts? What is he talking about?

"They haven't," Claudia answered.

"What other gifts are you talking about?" Noah said.

"Well, they're not really gifts since anyone in the world is capable of having them, but they're abilities that you will learn to develop."

"Which are?" I asked.

"The two big ones are extreme strength and speed," Nick answered plainly.

"What do you mean?" Noah pressed.

"You'll learn more this weekend, but basically the human body has been designed to run speeds of over thirty metres per second, and to lift weights of over thirteen hundred pounds. Our motto is 'If you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right,'" Nick explained.

"So you're saying if I think I can run as fast as a cheetah, then I can?" Noah questioned, unconvinced and a bit sarcastic.

Claudia answered, "At least as fast as a cheetah. But the trick is to believe it. Not often do humans one hundred percent believe something. You have to want it bad enough. Truly want it so bad that nothing will stand in your way. That is how athletes win gold medals, you know. It's all about who wants it and believes they can have it. They're all capable, so it comes down to desire and faith."

Nick added, "It's like the example of the mother whose child was trapped under a three thousand pound vehicle. She knew that if she didn't get her kid out of there immediately then he would die, so she was able to lift the car up with one hand and pull the toddler free with the other."

"And we will learn how to have this superhuman strength and speed?" I asked.

"It's all in your mind. Everything is in your head. If you think you can, you are right," Nick answered.

Nick's deep voice commanded attention and respect. He seemed only to speak when necessary, which created an aura of mystery around him.

"Can you guys do it?" I asked.

"Yes," Nick and Claudia answered together.

"What about you?" Noah asked Rachel.

"Sometimes," she said quietly, appearing somewhat ashamed. She had been quiet up until this point so I wondered what she was thinking.

Claudia added, "Sometimes it's really difficult for prophets to master strength and speed. Being able to achieve these goals requires you to one hundred percent believe that you can do it. Prophets rely on their visions for faith; if Rachel can't see herself with these superhuman skills, then she won't be convinced that she can do it, and if she isn't convinced that she can do it, then she won't be able to do it."

"Why aren't you able to see yourself doing it?" I asked Rachel.

She rolled her eyes and although she clearly thought the answer was obvious, she continued, "Because I don't believe I can do it. And I don't believe it because I can't see myself doing it."

"It's a circle," Claudia added, "but once she breaks into it, she will be great."

Everyone was quiet after that, and Rachel must have decided not to add anything further to the conversation. Before long, Nick announced that we had arrived. I peeled my forehead from the window and looked around as we made our way down a long, bumpy drive. We finally reached a large gravel parking lot which was already half full of rented vehicles. We slid in between a Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen Beetle, and then started unloading our gear.

"So does anyone even know what exactly we will be doing here?" I finally asked.

"This is training camp for your skills," Nick began. "Claudia and I have been here a couple of times. You guys are gonna love it."

"A couple of times?" Noah repeated.

"This is our third year," Claudia said.

"I didn't realize that you've known Ms. Peters for three years. Didn't she just move here?" I asked.

"We did just move here," Rachel answered. "Mom isn't the only Seeker. There are Gifted Ones everywhere. We're only a small part of what's happening all over the world."

The amount of new information was becoming overwhelming.

"So let me get this straight," Noah began. "This training camp is for gifted people from all over the world?"

"No," Claudia laughed. "This is only North America. There are training camps happening all over the place."

"Do we work on our gifts here too? Or is this just for our strength and speed?" I asked as we followed Nick and Claudia down a well-trodden path with our backpacks and sleeping bags in tow.

"All of it," Nick explained. "You'll do it all this weekend. It's quite intense actually." He stopped and turned to face Noah, Rachel and me, then continued with a depth of seriousness that I feared, "And this will make or break you. If you're truly cut out for it, you will be great. But if not . . . you're out."

I exchanged a troubled look with Noah.

"Ms. Peters already told us we're great," Noah said.

Nick turned and started walking again. "Well, let's just hope you've got your head in the game this weekend."

I thought about what Nick had said as we continued down the path. What did it actually mean to have your head in the game? I was eager to get started because it was already pretty cool being able to heal people, and I could only imagine how awesome it would be to be able to run super fast and be super strong. How could I not do well at the training camp? I certainly wanted it bad enough. I had given up so much for it.

As we neared the camp, the commotion of dozens of voices filled my ears. We came to the end of the path and were greeted by a half-dozen men in black suits, black sunglasses and earpieces, standing guard at the gate. It was then that I observed the high-velocity electric fence that ran along the entire property. I guessed that they were protecting our kind from being targeted by the Defiers, but I also couldn't help but notice that once we were in, there was no getting out either.

Beyond the security gate I could see clusters of people. About a hundred or more, I guessed. Some were playing soccer in the field to the right. Others were socializing by the main lodge entrance, which was further beyond the field. I could see a group of teenagers, roughly our ages, with their sleeping bags and pillows, getting instructions on where to unload their stuff. There was also a group of little kids, no older than Abby, sitting on the grassy hill by the soccer field. Was this their first time here? Or had they been discovered even younger?

"Alright, come on guys," Nick said as the huge metal gates slowly opened.

I hesitated before crossing the threshold. Once through, the gates swung closed with a deafening sound. I took a deep breath. "Let's do this."

#  **Chapter 16**

**Noah, Nick and** I were assigned to Cabin 3. Rachel and Claudia were closer to the end of the lineup of cabins in Cabin 6. We parted ways with the girls and headed into our cabin. There were five bunk beds on the left, and five on the right. Everything was wooden from floor to ceiling, with names carved into every part of every bunk bed, floor and ceiling. I quickly assessed that this was not going to be a luxury vacation by any means. Most of the beds had already been spoken for, so the three of us headed to the back of the cabin and took the remaining three beds. I threw my duffle bag up on the top bunk and then sat down beside Noah on the lower bunk. We both watched Nick as he spread out his sleeping bag and threw his pillow on top.

"So, boys," Nick started, "ready to get dirty?" A smile spread across his face in a mischievous fashion.

Noah and I exchanged a look, and then I dared, "Dirty?"

"Yeah, time for a warm-up game of soccer. Check your schedule. We play first, and then it's to the mess hall for supper. Let's go!" Nick rubbed his hands together as he headed out of the cabin. We followed like lost puppies.

There was a group of about ten guys gathered at the edge of the soccer field. Nick led us over to join them just in time to get in on the team distribution. Noah and I weren't going to be on the same team because we were both too "inexperienced." I was slightly offended, but I figured it was in our best interests. I couldn't have been more right. The game started friendly, at a good pace, but quickly turned when I got possession of the ball. I intercepted a pass to Noah and started running toward the net, controlling the ball as I went. Impressed with the ground I had covered, I wound up and took a swipe at the ball only a few yards away from the goalie. Next thing I knew, I was on my back with my foot over my head. The goalie was laughing and the ball was nowhere in sight. I jumped up and looked around, and to my amazement, the ball was at the other end of the field, in play. I started running back down the field trying to figure out when I had lost the ball. Then I saw a blur in front of me. It was Nick. He had the ball and was heading back toward the net with it. And then the ball was in the air, travelling at lightning speed. I thought for sure it was a goal, but the goalie jumped from one end of the net, through the air and snagged the ball before it went in.

The game went on like this for quite some time. Noah and I found our way to the sidelines and watched the scrimmage. It took a few minutes for our eyes to adjust to the speed, but it was all very entertaining.

"Having fun, boys?" Nick asked, suddenly appearing beside us.

"Yeah, sure. Great fun," Noah said sarcastically.

"Well, don't get your panties in a knot. You'll learn to keep up by the end of the weekend . . . maybe." Nick laughed and disappeared again.

Noah and I sat down on the grass and continued watching the game.

"Do you really think we'll be able to do this?" Noah motioned toward the field.

"I don't know. It seems bizarre, doesn't it?"

"I hope I'm focused enough. I'd hate to be sent home with a big 'LOSER' written on the front of my file," Noah half-joked.

"Tell me about it," I groaned. "But I think I'll do well. I've decided that if I can't be with Anna, then I'm going to devote my time and energy to making sure she's always safe. So I have a motive. I need these powers and gifts to fulfill that." I plucked a few blades of grass and rolled them together between my fingers as I let myself think about Anna.

"Yeah, it really sucks that you can't be with her, dude."

"Yup."

Rachel and Claudia approached us from behind. "Hey guys. How's the game?" Claudia laughed as she sat down beside me.

"Fast," I said. "Where were you two?"

"Our first session was on strength," Rachel said. "It was so cool. You guys are going to love it. So, I was, like, lifting maybe a hundred pounds thinking I was all strong and then Claudia gets up there and lifts, like, seven hundred pounds."

"Get out," Noah laughed as he turned to Claudia. "Did you really?"

"Yeah, it was nothing really." Claudia laughed. "Just getting warmed up."

Claudia was below average for height and maybe a hundred pounds. Her shoulder-length brown hair was streaked with blonde and always shiny and smooth along her tiny face. Like Nick, she was definitely in shape. Her arms were toned and her calf muscles were defined. I guess it made sense considering she was a cheerleader.

I pulled my schedule out of my pocket and scanned the page for our strength class. Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock.

"So after this is supper, then it says we have a social time. What's that about, Claudia?"

"We just sit around a campfire and the newcomers ask questions and such. It's a time to get to know everyone. It's nice. You'll like it."

There was something motherly about Claudia. I liked being around her. I wondered if she had a gift like Ms. Peters—one that made you feel protected and safe. "What's your gift, Claudia?" I came out and asked.

She turned and pulled her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose so I could look her right in the eyes, which made me a little nervous. "Tonight at the campfire, Jake. You're not a listener, are you?" she teased.

Rachel joined in, "Neither of them are."

"Hey, I listen," Noah defended.

"Ha!" Rachel bumped him with her shoulder. "What's my favourite colour?"

I was glad she asked Noah and not me. I normally tuned Rachel out as soon as she opened her mouth. I hoped Noah wouldn't look too obvious about liking her if he knew the answer.

"Purple. And your favourite food is Thai. And your favourite actress is Angelina Jolie. And your favourite movie is 27 Dresses."

Slightly obvious.

Rachel stared at him with her mouth half ajar. "I can't believe you remembered all that. Now if only your memory was that good in school."

"It's not hard to remember when you enjoy the subject," Noah said bravely.

There was a long, awkward silence so I piped up. "So, tonight at the campfire. You'll give me some answers then, will you?"

Claudia smiled a sweet smile. "Of course. It's not that interesting, really, it's just I'm sure Nick will want to be there—he's the storyteller."

Just then the long bullhorn sounded and everyone began dispersing from their various stations and heading in the direction of the mess hall for supper. Noah, Nick and I found our table and sat down with the rest of the guys from our cabin. Their ages ranged from the youngest being six years old to the oldest being sixty. We exchanged names and general information, but nothing about our gifts, which I thought was odd.

"Psst, Nick," I whispered, leaning in. "Why is there never any talk about gifts?"

"Aaah, you noticed," Nick mumbled as he shoved a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. After he swallowed, he whispered back, "You can lose your gift if you misuse it, you know. You have to practise humility, which means you don't go bragging about your gift. It can be taken away just as fast as it was given to you."

"Is it rude to talk about it around the campfire?"

"No. That's the one place where anything goes. What happens 'round the campfire stays 'round the campfire. You'll learn a lot of good stuff there. Just got to be open-minded."

I sat in silence for a few moments thinking about the possibility of my gift being taken away. On the one hand, I could be with Anna again, but on the other hand, I wouldn't have this cool gift. And what if Anna was seriously hurt? What if she was in a car accident and I couldn't help her? I eventually found my fork and started to pick away at my chicken dinner, having resolved that it would be better to die alone knowing that the one I loved would always be safe.

#  **Chapter 17**

**The campfire started** when the sun went down. We followed the path near the main lodge which led us to a clearing where a roaring fire sat in the middle, surrounded by four three-tiered benches. Noah and I found Nick, Claudia and Rachel sitting on a middle bench at the far side. We made our way around and sat down in front of them on the lower bench. The heat from the fire was just the right amount of warmth on the cool April evening.

"There you guys are," Rachel said as she slid down next to Noah, who immediately smiled in response.

I rolled my eyes, and then turned to Nick and Claudia. "So what's the agenda like for this campfire thing?"

They both laughed and Nick replied with a grin, "Hope you can sing."

Claudia rolled her eyes as she shuddered from the cold. Nick wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the top of her head. Claudia was a lot like Anna. She was small and delicate looking, but had a very strong and independent personality, making it clear that she could hold her own.

"Sing, eh?" I chuckled. "Not a chance. I bet Rachel does though."

"Oh, I love to sing!" Rachel said excitedly.

"Of course you do," I teased.

"But we don't have to sing, do we?" Noah asked Claudia and Nick, feigning nervousness.

Nick laughed. "Of course you do."

"No, you don't, Noah." Claudia elbowed Nick. "Don't listen to anything Nick says."

**People began filtering** into the campfire ring. The benches quickly filled up with bodies huddling together under blankets. A couple of guys pulled out their guitars and started strumming some old campfire songs until everyone was singing along.

The music went on for quite some time. The fire continued to crackle and mesmerize me with its flickers of light and energy. I wished Anna were sitting next to me so we could cuddle. I could almost smell her lavender skin.

The music died down as a tall elderly man stood up across the bonfire from us and held up his hands for silence.

"Welcome Gifted Ones," he said, slowly circling the fire. "Those of you who don't yet know me, I am . . ." he paused, almost as if that was it. He was. He was what? "I am James Chisholm," he finally continued. "I've been the head counsellor here for as long as I can remember and I am looking forward to leading this next generation of Gifted Ones."

Everyone clapped in response, and with admiration. Just by the applause, it wasn't hard to tell that this man was held high on some sort of pedestal. He was much older than I would've thought the head counsellor should be. Seventy, maybe? Or eighty, even? But then again, other than the frail body and the wrinkled skin, he gave off a much younger aura. His eyes were still bright, round, and full of life. His teeth sparkled white with every smile. His hands were firm and strong. Maybe he was younger.

"Now," he continued, cutting my thoughts short, "all you newcomers are sure to have lots of questions. This is the time for them. If anyone has a question for me, or for anyone else here, I open the floor up to you now."

A few mutters were overheard, but no questions were asked. I fiddled with the string on my track pants, bouncing my leg, something my mother told me I did when I was trying to figure out a math problem. I had so many questions, but I definitely wasn't going to be the first one to ask.

Then I felt a smack on the back of my head.

"Ouch! What the—?" I turned to glare at Nick who was smirking and nodding toward James.

"Go ahead, man," he whispered.

I shook off my desire to clock him back and then slowly raised my hand. All eyes turned to me.

"Yes, sir. What is your name?" James asked.

"Ah—" I cleared my throat then continued, "I'm Jake."

He took a step back and said, "Jake from Halifax, right? I've heard about you. Quite the reputation you have already with that special little talent of yours."

If I wasn't red-faced prior to that point, I definitely was now, even though I wasn't quite sure what information had preceded me.

"Is that right?" I forced a laugh.

"Yes, indeed," James said as he turned to the crowd, keeping his eyes on me. "Jake is a healer. A very promising one, at that."

There were a lot of nods and murmurs throughout the crowd. Were there other healers here? Surely I wasn't the only one.

"What is your question, Jake?"

My mind raced as I tried to pick the most important question. Then I just decided to blurt it out. "What's the protocol on relationships, sir?"

Everyone laughed. That was embarrassing.

James held up a hand to silence the crowd. "You're asking if you're allowed to have a girlfriend, Jake?" he said with a little grin.

"Well, not exactly. I know I'm allowed to do whatever I want, it's just I'm wondering, I guess, what the real risks are." Ms. Peters had already told me, but I needed to hear it from someone else. To be sure. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe things were different. This guy would know. I knew he would.

"Good question, Jake," the old man said as he turned his back to me and faced the rest of the group. "I'm sure that's on a lot of your minds, actually, and I should know since I can read your minds." He chuckled, amused by his own joke.

Noah and I quickly exchanged an interested look. We hadn't been told about the mindreading gift. I supposed there were a lot of things we didn't yet know about.

"And," James continued, "I know there are several of you who have chosen to have special relationships with ungifted people. I am not here to tell you whether that is right or wrong, but I will ask you,"—James turned and stared at me with eyes wide and glowing from the reflection of the fire—"is it worth the risk?"

I felt my face burn, more from defeat than anything else. I already knew the answer, but I guess I just needed to hear it again.

An unfamiliar voice from across the fire spoke up, "But what is the risk? What are you talking about? I didn't know anything about this."

James turned to greet her, a teenager about the age of eighteen or nineteen. "Allow me to explain," he started as he paced back and forth, tapping his fingertips together. "Everyone here is gifted. Chosen, if you will. You're not immortal by any means, but you have special gifts that allow you to have an edge over the dark ones we call the Defiers. You are blessed with these gifts so that you can fulfill prophesy and help those in need, which often entails dealing with the Defiers. You've been told that much by your Seeker. Your gifts are selfless gifts, and as you know, you can lose your gifts if you expose the truth about yourself to others.

"Now, when you enter into a relationship with an ungifted person, he or she instantly becomes a target by the Defiers. By injuring your loved one, they will weaken you. And once you are weak, they can easily kill you."

Silence fell over the crowd. I felt like a jerk for bringing up such a depressing topic at the beginning of the discussion.

"Don't feel bad, Jake." James had obviously read my thoughts again. "These are things you all need to know."

"I have a question, Mr. Chisholm," Rachel politely interrupted.

"Yes. What is your name?" James asked.

"I am Rachel Riley," she said with confidence, clearly expecting her reputation to have preceded her, as well.

"Rachel who?" he said with a grin.

"Riley, sir. Rachel Riley."

"And what is your gift, Ms. Riley?" James asked for the benefit of everyone listening.

"Prophesy," she responded sheepishly.

"Rachel the Prophet," James laughed to himself as he poked at the fire with a log. "Okay, Ms. Riley, what is your question?"

"I'd like to know if there is any way to tell the Gifted Ones from the Defiers? Like, how do you know if someone is really good when they say they are?"

The old man gently laid the log down beside the fire and answered, "Unfortunately, unless you are gifted with Discernment, it's nearly impossible to tell the difference between good and evil people. However, Gifted Ones are branded with a mark, which is a clear way of being able to identify one."

I felt my eyebrows crinkle as I waited for him to explain. Ms. Peters had mentioned the mark of the Gifted Ones, but I was so preoccupied with having to break up with Anna that I hadn't asked her anything else about it.

"Their brand. You know—tattoo?" he said, seemingly searching for a word that we might be able to relate to in our day and age.

"I'm sorry?" Noah asked, puzzled. Thankfully I wasn't the only one.

"I guess the newcomers wouldn't necessarily be aware of this. My apologies." Mr. Chisholm raised his hands, which commanded everyone's attention. "Newcomers, in order to officially become a Gifted One, you must receive the mark of the Gifted Ones. Upon graduation at the end of the weekend, you will enter into a covenant and become branded in Sunday's closing ceremony."

"That's cool," Noah muttered.

James turned to Noah and said, "Sorry? Was that a question?"

"No, nothing, sir," Noah covered. "Well, actually, I do have a question."

"Sure. What's your name and gift, son?"

"I'm Noah Morgan from Halifax, and I am gifted with Languages," Noah said proudly.

"Oh, Languages." James clapped his hands together in delight. "What a great gift to have. A lot of good work will be done through you, son."

"Thank you, sir. Looking forward to being of service," Noah said, giving a little salute with his hand.

"Now what is your question?"

"I was wondering how many gifts there are altogether?" Noah asked.

"There are eight gifts altogether," James began. "They are Wisdom, Faith, Healing, Miracles, Prophesy, Discernment, Helping and Languages." James circled the fire as he spoke. "I'm going to explain briefly what each gift is and I want everyone to raise their hand when I call out their gift. Take note of the people that share your gift as you will see them in your training groups tomorrow."

There were murmurs of agreement throughout the crowd.

"The gift of Wisdom," James began, pausing to survey the dozen or more hands in the air, "enables one to retain any and all information they've ever seen, read or heard, and in advanced cases, even information they've never seen, read or heard. Someone gifted with Wisdom can know detailed information about a complete stranger. They also have a way of being able to manipulate your mood, calming you in a situation if need be. They are said to be people readers."

He paused before continuing on to each gift.

"The gift of Faith can be powerful. With the ability to believe anything, you can literally do anything. Anything from lifting three thousand pounds to moving mountains. People gifted with Faith are often called free-spirited people. They are scared of nothing."

I noticed that there were even more people gifted with Faith than with Wisdom. Mostly females though, and I wondered if there was a reason behind that. The only males in this category were young children.

James continued, "The gift of Healing"—he gave a nod in my direction—"is extremely rare. As you can see, we only have two healers amongst us. A healer cannot only heal one's body, but in rare instances, can even heal the mind and spirit."

I casually checked out the other healer. He was a tall man in his mid-fifties, I guessed. I wondered how talented he was at healing and if he'd be able to teach me anything.

"The gift of Miracles is also extremely rare." James looked around at the crowd until he spotted a little boy sitting on an upper bench across from us. "Simon."

The little boy nodded shyly.

"Simon is our only miracle worker. With this gift, Simon will be able to do great things. He is currently under continuous supervision, as this gift could easily get out of hand. You can imagine a five-year-old running around and wishing for new bikes for all of his friends. And I'm sure if we left him to his own devices, his family would have won the lottery by now. Right, Simon?"

Everyone laughed, including little Simon who probably had no idea what was going on. He sat comfortably close to an older woman, who I assumed was his mother.

James went on, "Because miracle workers are extremely rare, they are always at great risk from the Defiers. Simon will be under constant surveillance to ensure his safety. It is our job as Gifted Ones to protect Simon.

"Next we have the gift of Prophesy which enables one to be able to see the future. This gift can range in depth. Perhaps one may only see flashes of the future for certain events, and with other events they may see the whole thing unfold before their eyes. Some may only be able to see the future in their dreams, and others can have visions in the middle of the day, no matter what they're doing. Prophets are essential to our cause. They allow us to see what is coming—both good and evil."

There were only a handful of prophets, Rachel being one of them. She seemed pleased that her gift wasn't diluted.

James continued, "The gift of Discernment enables one to be able to instantly distinguish a good person from a bad person. Someone who is well-trained in Discernment can sense evil without even seeing it. Once you are trained enough to be able to sense evil from a mile away, so to speak, you can even begin to read minds. Very rare though."

I noticed that, again, there were about a dozen people who raised their hands for this gift, including Nick and Claudia. I wondered if they could read minds too. That would be embarrassing. I wondered if Claudia read my mind when I was thinking about how she reminded me of Anna. I wondered if she was reading my mind right now. I decided I should just shut up. I heard Claudia giggle, but I wasn't about to turn around to find out why.

"The gift of Helping is a gift you don't see in action very often," James said. "Someone gifted with Helping has the natural instinct to want to help others, and can do pretty magnificent and unbelievable things in order to achieve that. It could mean being able to run a marathon with a broken leg just to help raise money for a good cause.

"Lastly, the gift of Languages is one of my personal favourites. Those gifted with Languages are able to speak and understand any language, including cryptic code. An invaluable tool. Also, many of you don't know this, but those gifted with Languages are also able to imitate the voices of others around them."

I nudged Noah who appeared puzzled.

"Let me demonstrate," James said. "Can I have a volunteer please?" He looked around the crowd. "Chloe? Can you come down here, please?"

A girl about my age made her way down the benches. She stood next to James with a wide smile and freckled cheeks.

"Chloe, I want you to tell everyone your name, age and where you are from, please."

She obediently replied, "My name is Chloe Stevenson. I'm seventeen years old and from Phoenix, Arizona."

"Thank you, Chloe, you may go sit down now," James instructed.

I gave Rachel a quizzical look as we waited. James closed his eyes and smiled, then opened his mouth and the voice of Chloe came out as he repeated, "My name is Chloe Stevenson. I'm seventeen years old and from Phoenix, Arizona."

Dumbfounded looks spread across the whole crowd. His voice was exactly like hers. How did he do that?

"So that's what you can do with your Languages gift. You can literally speak the language of anyone."

Noah's gift was no longer useless, I thought. I could think of many ways that could come in handy.

As if reading my thoughts again, James added, "I urge all of you not to misuse your gifts. They have been given to you to help fulfill your purpose."

One brave person in the crowd asked, "And what happens if you misuse your gift?"

And without hesitation, he responded, "Hell happens."

#  **Chapter 18**

**It was after** midnight when James Chisholm finished answering questions and dismissed us to bed. The crowd started dissipating and the fire was left to die down. The little ones had retired hours ago, leaving the rest of us to ask more in-depth questions about the dark side.

"So what'd you think?" Nick asked, breaking the silence.

"It was good," was all I could think of to say at the moment.

"He sure knows a lot, doesn't he?" Rachel said.

"That's why they call him the Mighty Counsellor," Claudia laughed.

"What is his gift?" I asked, turning to face Nick and Claudia.

Nick grinned. "James has all of the gifts, actually."

"What?" Noah gasped. "I didn't know that was even possible."

"It's not, really," Claudia clarified. "He's the only one who has all eight."

I hadn't seen that one coming. I knew he had some special powers because he was able to mind read and imitate voices, but I had no idea he could do everything else too. This created a newfound respect for the man.

As I thought about this, the tall, mid-fifties healer got up from his bench and announced to his friends that he was heading to bed.

"Nick, do you know him?" I asked quietly, nodding toward the man.

"Not really," he said, "but I know he keeps to himself a lot and that he's one heck of a healer."

"Really? How do you know that?"

"He's often summoned all over the world when one of the Gifted Ones gets injured. He's done some pretty amazing stuff."

I was excited to get on with my training the following day. I was sure I was going to do well. I'd just keep Anna on my mind and imagine myself healing her. Just like I did at the ski hill.

"Okay," Noah began as he turned to face Nick and Claudia, "so you guys are gifted with Discernment."

"The both of you? How did that happen?" Rachel asked.

"Well, we met here at camp a few years ago," Claudia began. "We got to know each other because we were in the same group. Nick was living in Toronto at the time, but convinced his mother to move to Nova Scotia so we could be together." Claudia looked dreamily at Nick.

"Best move I ever made." Nick gave her a soft kiss on her lips.

I looked away uncomfortably. It brought back a painful reminder of how I couldn't be with Anna.

"So, how did you discover you were gifted?" I asked.

Claudia nodded to Nick for him to go ahead, but he wouldn't have it. "You go," he said.

"Well, I was sort of born into it. Both of my parents are gifted with Discernment. My dad is a police officer and my mom is a judge, which are great professions for people who can instantly tell if someone is good or bad or telling the truth or not. But I was about thirteen when we discovered that I was gifted too. I was on a three-month exchange student program in Australia. I was excited to go, had talked to the host family before I left and they supposedly had a daughter my age, so I was really looking forward to it. But then when I got there, I just didn't feel right about the situation. I was sick to my stomach, which I figured was either food poisoning or really bad jet lag. Anyway, Dad called later that day to see how I was making out, and I told him how I was feeling. He immediately got Interpol involved and did an intense background check on the family. Apparently, they used fake names for the mandatory criminal checks. They didn't have a daughter after all, and when Interpol busted into their house, they found a thirteen-year-old girl tied up in their basement, almost dead. It was a girl they had kidnapped and used to pretend to be their daughter. Anyway, I'm still not sure what they were planning on doing to me, but I'm just glad that my gift kicked in when it did."

"Holy crap," Noah blurted. "That's insane. And I was actually thinking about doing an exchange program."

"Don't get me wrong. They are completely fun and really rewarding. I've done a half dozen or more since then. I would totally recommend it," Claudia assured him. "Interpol will be checking out any family you go with now anyway, so no worries there."

"What about you, Nick?" I asked.

"I came about my gift a bit differently," Nick began. "I was always a people person. I loved reading people. I sometimes felt really judgmental because I would meet someone and instantly not like them, but I couldn't explain why, so I'd find something about them physically that I could use as an excuse or reason. It was hard because my mom would bring home her boyfriends to meet me and sometimes I'd get this really bad vibe about them and for as long as she'd date that guy, I would act out. I guess it was my way of standing up for her.

"Anyway, there was this one time when I was thirteen, my mom was dating this guy who I hadn't met yet. She was telling me all about how great he was, how he was a pilot in the air force, and so on. I liked the sound of him. I thought he would make a great dad and I was really excited. They were dating for a few months, so she decided to invite him over for dinner so that we could meet. Before he got there, I started feeling sick. I chalked it up to being nerves, and when the knock came at the door, I ran ahead to get it. Before I opened the door, this feeling of disgust came over me. I couldn't explain it but I knew I already hated this man. I slowly opened the door and he stood in front of me looking nothing like the pictures of the distinguished man my mother had shown me. He looked like a monster. A sick, twisted monster. I just froze there, staring at him while everything inside me told me to run. He reached out his hand to shake mine and . . . well, that's when I threw up all over his shoes."

Rachel gasped and covered her mouth. I just stared, captivated by the story.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad. Mom thought I had the flu so she sent her boyfriend home and spent the night nursing me back to health, although I felt a hundred percent better the minute he left our apartment.

"The next day, I went down to the police station and started asking how I could check on someone's history. They turned me away, telling me there wasn't anything they could do, but before I left, I gave a picture of this guy to one of the officers and told him his name, and left my cell number. I got a call two hours later from a Constable Henderson—Claudia's dad. Turned out my mom's boyfriend was wanted in Nova Scotia on sexual assault charges. Claudia's dad was on the case in Nova Scotia and when he read the report about how I was acting on just a hunch that I had for this guy, we got to talking and I confided in him about the weird things that happen to me when I meet someone that I don't like. He was the one who recognized my gift and got me in contact with a local Seeker. And he was the one who introduced me to Claudia that first year of camp. Crazy, eh?"

We all stared at Nick, mouths open. Claudia held his hand and gave it a little squeeze. She was proud of him.

"Man, what a story," I finally said.

"Yeah, well, I gotta say, I'm really glad my gift was finally recognized by someone. It really sucked to think I was so different from everyone. Like a freak."

"I wouldn't say that you're not," Claudia teased. Nick reciprocated with a forceful kiss on her forehead, nearly knocking her off the bench.

"Well, Noah and I don't have cool stories like that. Rachel and Ms. Peters sort of just cornered us." I laughed as I nudged Rachel.

"But did you have any idea that you were gifted before you found out?" Nick asked.

Noah answered first, "Not really. I was in French immersion since kindergarten, so that explained my knowledge of French. And I was never around any other languages, so I never had a chance to figure it out."

"Bor-ing!" Nick teased before turning to me. "Jake?"

"Other than never having had any broken bones, which I think is pretty normal, right?" I looked to the others for consensus.

"I've had broken bones," Noah said.

"Me too," Rachel added. "These three fingers."

"I broke my leg when I was ten," Nick said.

"My arm when I was eight." Claudia nodded.

"Okay then. So apparently it's not that common. But anyway, I never put much thought into it. But it makes sense now. I never bleed profusely. I don't scar. I guess it should've been more obvious."

"Well, if you don't know what you're looking for, it's hard to find it," Claudia pointed out.

"Rachel, what's your story?" Noah asked, turning his attention to Rachel.

"It's not that interesting, actually," Rachel said.

"I'm sure it is," Noah pried, sounding a bit too obvious about his feelings toward her.

"Okay." Rachel crossed her legs and got comfortable on the bench. I feared it was going to be a long one. "So I grew up around gifts. My mom is gifted with Wisdom and has been a Seeker ever since I can remember. She often had me tested for the various gifts, assuming I would follow in her footsteps. I knew she was getting disappointed that I wasn't showing any signs of anything. Then, just a few months back, I woke up in the middle of the night screaming. My mom came running into my room and I told her about the nightmare I had—we were driving along the highway that we took every morning to get me to school, and just as we were approaching an overpass, chunks of concrete began falling from it. We weren't able to stop in time, and the overpass collapsed on top of our car, killing us both. It was horrible.

"Anyway, I cried in my mom's arms and begged her to let me stay home from school the next morning. She thought it was a manoeuvre to get out of my math test, so she didn't buy it. We left that morning for school, but were a few minutes late because of my stall tactics. Anyway, when we started approaching the overpass, I saw it. It happened right before our eyes. The whole freaking thing collapsed, crushing, like, a dozen vehicles underneath it. Mom was able to stop and pull over in time to avoid the massive pileup that followed. We both sat there staring at the mess in front of us. At a time when you'd expect someone to scream or cry, Mom just sat there with a silly grin on her face as she turned to me and said, 'You're gifted with Prophesy!'

"So it was like that. For the most part, my visions come to me in dreams, but I have been working with a trainer to be able to see things while I'm awake too. But mostly I only see glimpses of things. Still learning," Rachel finished.

"Wow. That's a great story, Rachel," Claudia said. "So you really had no idea up until that day?"

"Not really. I mean, looking back now, I used to have those sick feelings about stuff before they happened. Like, I remember one time I was in the cafeteria eating lunch with my friends, and I got this really nervous, sick feeling like something bad was going to happen. I didn't want to go out on the playground, but my friend, Becky, begged me to go with her. So we went and when we rounded the side of the building, there was a big group of people standing around. We knew it was a fight, so we walked over to see who was fighting. And there was Amanda Moore, waiting for me in the centre of the ring," Rachel finished with a shudder.

"That's awful. Funny how you had that feeling though," Noah commented.

"Yeah, stuff like that used to happen to me all the time," Rachel said.

"So the real question is," I interrupted, "who won the fight?"

Claudia kicked me. "Jake!"

"What? I was just curious." I laughed.

Rachel snickered, "Did you have any doubt? Look at these pipes." She flexed her arms as we all laughed.

"Oh!" Rachel jumped in her seat. "You know what I just learned recently? You know when you get déjà vu? Like, you know what you're going through has happened before?"

We all nodded in unison, waiting for the secret to finally be unveiled.

"Well, my personal trainer told me the other day that the reason you feel like something already happened is because you've already dreamed about it," Rachel said excitedly.

"Come again?" I asked, feeling my forehead crease.

Rachel continued, "Okay, so on average, you have around thirty dreams each night, whether you remember them or not. And the dreams that you don't remember are premonitions of your future. Things that are meant to happen." She looked around for some sign of understanding.

Claudia spoke first, "So when you have déjà vu, it means that things are unfolding as they should?"

"Exactly!" Rachel exclaimed.

"That's a neat theory," Nick said.

"Yeah, kind of makes a lot of sense actually," Noah agreed.

"Where did you say you were from, Rachel?" Nick asked.

"Irvine, California. We just moved here recently after I had a dream about Jake and Noah."

"Yeah, about that," Noah said. "What exactly did you see in your dream about us?"

Rachel looked down at her hands and I noticed that she chose her words carefully, "I saw that there were Gifted Ones in Halifax and that they were vital to our cause. That's all, really. Mom decided we needed a change and it all worked out well for timing."

"Did you leave any family behind?" I asked.

"Not really. I'm an only child and my father lives in Brazil."

"Your mom said you had a boyfriend or something?" I asked, deliberately, for Noah's benefit.

"She did?" Rachel looked annoyed and concerned at the same time.

"Well, sort of. She just said that you had a boyfriend who took it kind of bad when you broke up with him."

"Yeah, I guess." Rachel was obviously not going to give any more than that.

"What about you, Jake?" Claudia asked, changing the focus. "You don't have a girlfriend?"

"No girlfriend."

"Why'd you ask James that question then?" Nick asked.

"Because there was a girl, but I can't be with her, so there is no girlfriend." I thought it was obvious. Apparently it wasn't. Why did they keep talking about it?

"Sorry to hear that," Claudia sympathized.

"Yeah. She's something else. But I'd rather her be safe, so I had to let her go." I fought back the lump forming in my throat.

"Smart," Nick added as he stretched and yawned. "I'm beat. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow, boys. Let's hit the sack."

We got up, stretched, and slowly walked back to our cabins for a short, but good night's sleep. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that my body sat up straight in my bunk, nearly smashing my head on the roof rafters. It was that horrible nightmare. I shook my head to try to rid it of the black headless horse and the perfect angel being swallowed by darkness. I had a sickening feeling that it was Anna in my dream. I took a deep breath and convinced myself that she was fine. I wasn't a prophet. It wasn't a vision. It was just a dream.

#  **Chapter 19**

**The unforgiving time** of seven thirty came too early. The sound of the bullhorn echoed throughout the campground, followed by tired groans from our cabin mates.

As we headed for our first class of the day—strength class—I began daydreaming about Anna and wondering what she would be doing right now. Probably still sleeping, lucky thing. Actually, it was Saturday morning, which meant she was probably at kick-boxing. She'd be wearing her black yoga pants. The ones with the pink stripes down the side, and her matching tank. She'd have her hair pulled up in a high ponytail, and she'd be grumbling about how early she had to get up to do it. But self-defence was something her parents insisted on since she didn't have older brothers to protect her. And I had no doubt that she looked absolutely stunning as she pounded her tired fists into that bag.

Strength class was held in one of the smaller buildings next to the mess hall. We walked through the door and into the open room. The other guys from our cabin were already there and sitting around on the floor. We took our places with them and waited for the strength trainer to come in and show us his stuff.

"Who is the strength trainer, anyway?" Noah asked Nick.

"Sam Conrad. Gifted with Faith," Nick told us.

"Is he the strongest Gifted One? Is that why he teaches the class?" I asked.

Nick laughed, obviously amused. "Yes, Sam is probably stronger than any of us here."

A moment later I realized Nick's amusement. The door opened and in walked Sam Conrad. Or, I should say, Samantha Conrad. She was just shy of five feet tall, and couldn't have weighed more than ninety pounds. It appeared she enjoyed making an entrance like this and watched the shocked expressions from the newcomers.

"Good morning, class," Sam said with a wide smile. "I'm sure you're all wondering why this puny, little lightweight is your strength teacher." She paused, walked over to a tower of chairs by the wall and lifted them effortlessly with one hand. "It could be the faith, or it could be the discipline." She put the chairs back down on the floor and continued, "I'm here to teach you how to have both. You don't need to be gifted with Faith in order to believe something. So, let's begin."

Sam circled the group, eyeing up a candidate for her first volunteer. Her eyes fell on each person, playing a visual game of Duck, Duck, Goose, before she chose her first contender.

"You there," she said, pointing to Noah.

"Me?" Noah gave a quick glance over his shoulder, making sure he was the intended target.

Sam laughed. "I don't bite, kid. I might be able to throw you back to your hometown, but I won't bite." She laughed along with the rest of the group. "Stand up, please. What's your name?"

"I'm Noah."

"Welcome, Noah. Now show me what you can do." She threw a large ball at Noah. He put his hands up to catch it at his chest, but was propelled ten feet back into the wall, crumpling to the floor.

I jumped up and ran to see if he was okay. Noah lay on the floor, gasping for air, with a cement-filled ball pinning him. I tried to lift the ball off of him, but it wouldn't budge.

"Move!" I heard Nick's voice as he shoved me to the side. He picked up the ball, threw it, and then helped Noah up and ordered him to breathe. A minute later, Noah was breathing normally, although still quite shaken.

"What the hell was that?" I yelled, directing my accusation toward Sam.

"A test, actually. And you both failed, just so you know," she said matter-of-factly.

"That wasn't fair at all!" I protested. "We didn't know what you were doing. We didn't have time to prepare."

"And do you think you'll have time to prepare in a real emergency? Do you think those people in the World Trade Center saw those attacks coming and had time to prepare?" she shouted, matching my anger.

I was taken aback by her tone and the realization that perhaps she had a point. I hadn't had time to prepare for what happened at the ski lodge. Maybe if I'd been better trained, I would've been able to focus and save more people. I helped Noah to our seats. There was a long silence.

"I want to try again," Noah said. He bravely looked Sam in the eyes and stood up slowly. "Do it again."

"Good. Then think fast." Sam hurled the ball in our direction and this time Noah let out a loud growl as he caught the ball firmly, stumbling back only a few feet this time, but he braced himself and was able to hold the ball with his shaking arms.

"That's two hundred and fifty pounds, Noah. Good job," she said, applauding. "You ready to give it a try now?" she asked me.

I nodded, still a little skeptical.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Jake Rovert," I answered.

She stopped in mid-step and brought her eyes back to mine. "Jacob Rovert?"

My eyebrows crinkled. "Yeah."

She smiled quickly, and then turned away. "Come to the front here. I have something I want you to hold."

I walked to the front of the room and took a heavy metal platter from her.

"Now I'm going to stack some weights on here. You just keep believing and you'll be fine."

Sam placed the first weight on the tray and I felt my arms get really heavy. Then another, and another. The tray began to shake as my muscles strained to hold it steady. I closed my eyes and tried to picture Anna, imagining that she was watching. If she were here, I'm sure she would be laughing at this insanity. Sam put another weight on and my arms collapsed. The platter and all the weights fell to the floor. I looked up, somewhat proudly, as I surveyed the weights sprawled across the concrete floor.

"How much was it?" I asked.

"A hundred pounds." She rolled her eyes and motioned for me to sit down. "That was pathetic."

"That's it? Are you joking?" I asked.

"I don't often joke, Jake. You didn't believe you could do it."

"Yes I did."

Sam stopped and turned to face me. "Really? Well, then I guess you're not cut out for this after all."

Biting my lip, I decided to sit back down and see how the rest of the class did.

Nick took his turn and didn't disappoint Sam with his effortless abilities. Even the twelve-year-old skinny kid lifted four hundred pounds. Noah quickly caught on and was able to throw the cement ball over twenty feet by the end of the class. But everything I tried, I failed miserably at. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I do this stupid task?

"Well, class, that's the end of your session," Sam announced. "I will see you guys once more later this afternoon where we will touch on moving things with your mind."

"What do you mean, with our minds?" one of the younger guys from our cabin asked.

Sam smiled, obviously pleased he asked. "I'll show you," she said as she set a single chair on the floor in front of her. She closed her eyes and placed her palms together in front of her like she was meditating. Then she suddenly broke her hands apart and pushed her palms toward the chair, without touching it, and the chair flew across the room.

Applause erupted from her audience.

"I'll show you the technique later this afternoon, and you can take it home to practise. And maybe, just maybe, one of you might be able to do it someday too."

Noah snickered, "I'll bet money that it won't be Jake."

"Not funny," I scowled.

"Don't be hard on yourself, Jake," Nick said. "You're capable, but you're just not in the right frame of mind right now."

"How do I get there?" I pleaded.

"I don't know how to tell you. It'll come."

"Before or after I fail miserably?" I squinted from the sun as we stepped outside of the building. "Where do we go next?"

Noah checked his schedule. "It's gift training. I go to the mess hall for Languages. Healing is in the medical building down by the main entrance."

"Great," I mumbled sarcastically. "See you later, then."

"Meet you back at the mess hall for lunch?"

"Sounds good," I said as I turned and left for the medical clinic. At least I knew I could heal, so that shouldn't be as embarrassing.

**I walked into** the medical clinic and quickly remembered that there were only two of us with the Healing gift. The man from the campfire—the only other healer—stood at a long white counter at the back of the room.

"Jacob Rovert?" the man asked as he stood to shake my hand.

"Yes. Nice to meet you. And you are?"

"Matthias. I'm the other healer, as well as your teacher," he said, motioning for me to have a seat.

"Matthias. That's a great name."

He smiled and sat down next to me. "So let's get started. We only have an hour and a half."

"So where do we begin?" I asked, pulling up my sleeves, ready to dive right in.

"Why don't you tell me what you've done so far with your gift?" Matthias had a soft-spoken voice and seemed very wise and respectable. I already liked him a lot.

"I healed my girlfriend's broken arm," I said proudly.

"Did you now?" He seemed impressed by that.

"Yeah, and I may have helped heal . . ." my mind travelled back to the horrific scene at the ski lodge—the woman dying on the floor with her son beside her. Rachel had said I helped heal the kid's mind, but how did I know that was true? And maybe that woman wasn't really dying anyway, because I certainly wasn't able to help Lexie. "No, I don't think I did anything else," I said, feeling slightly ashamed.

"So this is going to sound pretty bizarre," Matthias began, "but I am going to set us up a little situation, if you will." He walked across the room and pulled out a drawer from the white cabinets along the wall. He held up a scalpel and showed it to me.

"Probably the same thing Ms. Peters did to me a few weeks ago when she wanted to test my gift." I held out my hand in anticipation.

"Not exactly. I'm confident you're able to heal yourself. The next step is to be able to heal others," he said as he closed his eyes and sliced a long incision down his leg. He hardly even flinched.

"But can't you just heal yourself?" I asked, puzzled as I watched the blood drain from his leg.

"I can, but I'm restraining myself so that you can do it. Go ahead now." He scrunched his face and held his breath as he waited.

I laid my hands on his leg and imagined the same thing I imagined when it was Anna's broken arm. I starting recalling how I healed her arm and the thoughts that I was thinking at the time. I remembered how much pain she was in and how I felt when I realized that I had healed her.

When I lifted my hands and opened my eyes to meet Matthias', I felt proud of myself, but something in Matthias' expression caught me off guard. I quickly followed his eyes down to his leg and saw that the gash was still there. The blood was still oozing out and I had done absolutely nothing!

I fell back a few steps and looked at my bloodstained hands. "I . . . I . . . I don't know what I did wrong," I stammered.

Matthias placed his own hands over his leg and healed it within seconds. He sat back in his chair and looked deeply into my eyes. "You remind me a lot of myself," is all he said for several minutes as he continued to study my face.

"But it worked before! I did the exact same thing, but I was even more confident this time. I don't understand." Frustration overtook me.

"How did you do in strength class, Jacob?"

"Horribly, why?"

"What are you thinking about when you are doing these things?"

"Nothing, really. I'm just thinking about how I healed my girlfr . . . my friend's arm." I sat back down in my chair and leaned forward to rest my spinning head in my hands.

Matthias was quiet for another minute before he began. "I found out about my gift around twelve years ago. It was my fortieth birthday and my wife threw a big party for me, inviting everyone in our hometown. Most people, I didn't even know." He chuckled as he recalled his memories. "Anyway, during the party, my youngest daughter Karly, who was four years old at the time, fell into the swimming pool. By the time someone noticed and we pulled her out, she was blue . . . and so lifeless. There was a doctor amongst the guests and after doing CPR on her for several minutes, he pronounced her dead.

"But I couldn't believe it. I watched my wife screaming for her little girl, and our other two daughters crying in the arms of their mother. I ran to Karly and picked her up in my arms and just prayed. I prayed to God, begging him to bring her back to me. I pleaded to have one more chance to push her on the swings, to teach her how to ride her new bike, to kiss her good night and sing her to sleep. And as I held her in my arms with my head buried in her chest, I heard the guests start gasping and saying something about a miracle. I looked up and Karly's eyes were open and she was looking back at me and said, 'Daddy, I went swimming with the angels!'" Matthias stopped to wipe the tear that was escaping down his cheek. "So that's how I knew. One of our guests actually came up to me afterward and talked to me about it. He was gifted as well, and he recognized my gift."

"Wow, that's pretty amazing. Karly was very lucky to have you so close. Your family must be the safest family in North America." I smiled, imagining how safe Anna would be with my constant protection.

Matthias swallowed hard, took a deep breath and continued, "That's what I thought too. You see, a few years after this incident, we were going on a family vacation down to Florida. I was driving our motorhome and we were going along the highway singing 'One Hundred Bottles of Coke on the Wall.'" Matthias chuckled to himself, but then looked down as his smile faded. "We had made it to seventeen bottles of Coke when the man in the car in front of me suddenly slammed on his brakes. I tried to swerve out of his way, but couldn't get control of the vehicle. We crashed through the guardrail and rolled down a deep embankment." He paused and I could almost see the images unfolding through his eyes as they darted around in another dimension. "I walked away unscathed, but my wife and three beautiful daughters . . . they weren't so lucky. I tried my best to save them. I was so frantic and desperate to heal them. But I couldn't. It was too late." More tears came.

"I'm so sorry, Matthias. That must have been so hard for you." I tried, but I couldn't hold back my own tears. Imagining losing my whole family—everyone I loved—in one minute. What a horrible thing to have to go through alone.

Matthias straightened up in his chair and took a deep breath. "I believe it was the Defiers that took my family, Jacob. It was an attack on our family to weaken me. They knew I was going to be a great healer one day, so they took everything I loved. Everything I lived for."

This was what Ms. Peters warned me about.

"Normally an attack like this would bring someone down and maybe even kill them, but I've found the inner strength to devote all my time and energy on growing stronger, smarter, and faster and on being a better healer. I found the strength for them. For my family. They are my reason, but not my purpose. It's not just your loved ones that you're here to protect—it's everyone."

I hung my head as I let the lesson sink in.

"Let her be your reason, but not your everything. If you make her your everything, Jacob, she'll be taken in an instant. You don't want to lose her too."

"No, that I definitely don't want." I reacted quickly and assuredly.

Keeping Anna at the centre of my thoughts was actually inhibiting my growth. I had to put her aside and focus on doing this for the reason I was given the gift—to help everyone. Anna was going to be the reason that I had to be great. If I couldn't be with her, I'd do it for her. I needed to be able to protect her. To be there when she needed me.

"Tell me this, Jacob. If you could only save one or the other—this special friend of yours or a child you had never met, who would you choose?"

I knew what my answer was supposed to be, but my chest ached when I thought about it. I couldn't make myself say it. So I didn't. I couldn't answer.

#  **Chapter 20**

**We had a** rest period scheduled for the early afternoon, then we were heading back to strength class for some more torture. We sat on the grassy hill overlooking the soccer field and watched a scrimmage game.

"How did your strength class go this morning?" Rachel asked Noah.

"Great. It was fine," Noah said cautiously, flickering his eyes in my direction for just a second.

"Yeah, it was pretty crazy," I added. "I lifted, like, thirty pounds or something big like that."

Nick and Noah laughed, relieved by my sense of humour in the matter.

"You mean three hundred pounds?" Claudia asked, confused.

"No. No, he really means thirty," Nick laughed.

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "But I think I know now what my problem was. I'm ready to go back at it again."

"What was your problem?" Rachel asked.

"I was letting something distract me. I have a purpose, and I have a reason. Two different things that I was letting cohabit when I shouldn't have."

Rachel gave a confused look to Noah. "Are we still talking about your strength problem, or something else?"

Claudia interrupted, "And how did your Healing class go?"

"Uh, about the same." I grinned. "But it's all good now. Trust me."

The bullhorn sounded.

"Good," Nick said as he stood up and brushed his pants off. "I'd hate to see you get held back."

"Come on, guys. Let's go to strength class and watch Jake lift fifty pounds now," Noah teased.

We said goodbye to the girls and headed back to the dreaded building by the mess hall.

**Sam was standing** at the back of the room waiting for us to gather. "Good afternoon, cabin three."

We took our seats and waited patiently as Sam arranged the cement balls along the left side of the room. So effortlessly.

"Okay everyone, we'll start by warming up with the balls. Go grab a ball and a partner and toss it back and forth." Sam picked up a smaller cement ball and said, "Jacob, you can pair with me."

That was a little embarrassing. "Uh, thanks. I guess."

I closed my eyes, cracked my neck and cleared my head. I was ready.

"Think fast, healer," Sam taunted as she gently tossed the ball toward me.

I reached out to grab it, bracing myself with my left foot back, and caught the ball with ease. It no longer felt like a heavy block of cement, but more like the beach ball that it resembled. I creased my brow as I inspected the ball. Was it a joke?

"Excellent job, Jacob. You think you're ready for the big ball?"

"Yes, please," I said, welcoming the opportunity to be considered normal again.

Sam picked up the large ball and hurled it at me without warning. This time I didn't feel the need to brace myself as I reached out and snagged it like a football.

"Very impressive," she commended. "Class, now that we're all up to speed, I think we'll have a little competition. Let's all line up here on this side of the room and I want everyone to take their turn in throwing the ball as far as you can. We'll see who can get the closest to me." Sam stood at the opposite end of the room, which was about forty feet away, much further than I had seen anyone throw.

Everyone took a turn. I stood back and watched for the techniques that appeared to work better than others. Some people threw it like a bowling ball, while others threw it like a baseball. Most balls landed in the middle of the room, somewhere around fifteen to twenty feet, which was impressive in itself. Noah was in the lead so far with coming up just five feet short of Sam. Nick was the next one to throw, then me at the end of the line. Nick hurled the ball and it landed at Sam's feet.

"Very nice, Nick," Sam said, obviously impressed.

I stepped up and cleared my head. The ball felt so light in my hands that I had to check to make sure I was even holding it. I decided to throw it like a baseball and pitched it with all my might. Everything I had.

The ball soared, at an unbelievable speed, across the room, over Sam's head and right through the wall! A few seconds later, a big thud conquered the room as the ball smashed into a tree, sending the tree timbering to the ground.

I wasn't sure if I should apologize for the destruction, or celebrate my victory. I got my answer when Sam burst into cheer, followed by the rest of the guys.

"Well done, Jacob!" Sam applauded. "My, my! They sure were right about you. You have some promise."

"Good job, dude," Noah said slapping me hard on the back.

"Never seen anything like it before," Nick shouted over the laughter and noise.

Just then Matthias came running into the building. "Is everyone alright here? Anyone hurt?" He scanned the room for injuries, but quickly relaxed when he saw the celebration. I met his eyes with a wide grin. "You did this?" he laughed.

"Sure did. Just needed someone to talk some sense into me," I said with a wink.

He looked across the room at the hole in the wall and shook his head. "Look at this mess."

Sam clapped her hands together and shouted above the commotion, "Okay guys! Everyone relax and sit down. You all did very well, but we don't have a lot of time left so I want to talk to you about mind movement before you go." She looked up at Matthias, "Thanks for stopping by to check up on us, Matthias. Thankfully there are no injuries."

Matthias nodded and left the building, chuckling to himself as he went.

"So I'll begin by reminding you that mind movement is not something you are expected to be able to do. It's rarely done and when it is, it's only by seniors who have been practising the techniques for years. Some of you may be able to accomplish mind movement after years of service, but I want to show you the technique now so that you can practise at home." Sam started handing out pencils to everyone. "Take this pencil and set it on the floor in front of you."

I set my pencil down on the floor and stared at it, wondering what the technique was. I remembered all those times I laid my tired and bored head down on my desk at school and stared at my pencil, willing it to jump out of the groove at the top of my desk. It never happened. I wondered if this was going to feel the same.

"The trick with mind movement is really quite simple. First of all, you must believe you can do it because our motto is, 'If you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right.' So you have to believe that this pencil will move. Secondly, you don't imagine the pencil merely moving, but you imagine the final destination for your pencil." Sam laid her pencil on the floor and stood over top of it. "For example, I know I can move this pencil and I want to hold it in my hand." And just like that, the pencil lifted off the ground and flew into her hand like a magnet.

"That is neat," I said.

"Go ahead, give it a try," Sam said as she slowly walked around and watched. "Those gifted with Faith may have an easier time with this." She leaned over one guy and said, "You're trying too hard. I can see the wrinkles in your forehead. It's a simple act. Don't put much thought into it. Just believe and tell it where to go. You are in control."

I listened to everything Sam said about believing it and just doing it. I knew I could do it, given the accomplishments I had achieved in class already. Now I just had to decide where I wanted the pencil to go. Hmm . . . Where to go?

"Let's see it, Jacob. Stop thinking about it and just do it already," I heard Sam say.

"Go to Sam," I said quietly, and off my pencil went, flying through the air and smacking Sam in the middle of her forehead.

"What was that?" she said as she looked around. Her eyes rested on my pencil lying on the ground at her feet. She looked back to me with disbelief. "Are you kidding me?"

"I don't often joke, Ms. Conrad. You didn't believe in me," I said with a smile, recalling the words she said to me earlier that day.

Everyone was watching our exchange by this point.

"You're right. I can't believe it. This has never happened in all my years. You're not supposed to be this advanced, Jacob. That wasn't in the cards for you." She scratched her head as she thought through something that was beyond me, but bewildered her.

Noah leaned over to me and asked, "Did you really move the pencil, dude?"

"Yeah," is all I could say as I waited for more of an explanation from Sam.

Sam paced the floor for a minute then she looked up at everyone and announced, "Okay everyone, you're dismissed. Go take a break or something. Jacob and Nick stay here." She waited for everyone to clear the room. "Nick, please go and get James Chisholm and Matthias. Tell them it's important." She continued to pace with her fingers tapping away at her lips.

Nick left in a hurry. Noah, appearing concerned, waited outside by the door. "What's this all about?" I asked Sam when the room was empty.

She didn't respond, she just kept muttering, "It doesn't make sense. It wasn't meant to be like this. It just doesn't make sense."

A few moments later, James and Matthias burst through the door.

"What is it, Sam? What's the matter?" Matthias demanded.

James didn't need an explanation. He read her mind the moment he walked into the room. "Are you sure?" he asked before she could answer.

"I think so. I mean I didn't exactly see it, but that's what he said." She struggled to remain steady and calm.

Their uneasiness made me nervous. Was I a freak?

"What happened?" Matthias shouted.

"We were doing mind movement techniques," Sam started to explain, "and I think he moved something."

Matthias sucked in some air and turned to face me with wide eyes.

"Jacob," James began, "tell me what happened."

"I don't understand what the uproar is all about. She was showing us how to do mind movement, so I did it. Why is that so hard to believe?"

"It's just that mind movement is only done by few people in the world, and none of them are newcomers. We just didn't see this in your future. It's a great thing, mind you. It's a really great thing." James smiled from ear to ear. "I need to see it for myself though."

Sam brought a chair over and set it down on the floor in front of me. "Can you do it again?"

"Yeah," I said. "Sure." I squinted my eyes, focusing on the chair in front of me, and then silently commanded the chair to take a trip across the length of the room and rest against the wall.

We all watched as the chair flew and bounced off the wall, landing with a clang on the floor.

"Incredible!" shouted Matthias. "Jacob, you are one special kid."

"Good work, son." James beamed.

"So what do we do now?" Sam asked, reluctant to join in on the celebration.

"It doesn't change much, Samantha. He'll continue with his training as planned," James answered.

"But no one saw this. Why?" she demanded.

"This stuff happens, Sam. Well, not quite like this, but change happens. It's a shift in the energy."

"I know how it works, James. That's what concerns me! Does this mean the Defiers have an edge now too?"

Matthias and James exchanged a look. One that I didn't understand. Then they both answered, "Yes."

#  **Chapter 21**

" **What happened in** there?" Noah asked when I finally came out of the building. He was waiting by the door with Rachel, Claudia and Nick.

"What's this? Why are you girls here?" I asked Claudia and Rachel, puzzled.

"We heard all the news through the grapevine," Claudia explained. "Did you really do mind movement?"

"Yes, I did. And yes, I realize it's never been done by a newcomer. And yes, I realize how rare it is."

"I was just going to say you're a freak," Claudia teased.

"That's pretty cool, dude," Noah admired. "Imagine the stuff you could torture Mr. Meade with."

I snickered at the ideas that flooded my mind. Good pranks. Fun stuff.

James, Matthias and Sam came out the door, squinting from the sun.

"You kids can move on to your next class now," James said. "Jake, you're with Matthias for more healing work. I'm going to let Matthias take you off grounds for your session. Good luck with it." He walked away with not another word.

I said goodbye to the group and followed Matthias to the medical building to gather some supplies. He was quiet. Maybe he was concerned about the energy shift now too.

"Where are we going, Matthias?" I asked as I helped stuff medical supplies into a duffle bag.

"We're going on a mission, Jacob. This is the best part."

"Where? What do you mean?"

"We're going to heal some real subjects. Here, put these on." He handed me a white doctor's coat, stethoscope and green doctor's face mask.

"Why?" I asked as I pulled the coat on and hooked the stethoscope around my neck.

"We're going to the hospital to heal people, like I said."

**It took about** a half an hour to get to the hospital. Matthias pulled into a "reserved" parking spot and we both got out, adorned in our hospital gear.

"So who are we supposed to be?" I asked as I caught up to Matthias.

"You will be Dr. Rovert. I am Dr. Matthias Carver, head surgeon here at the hospital," he said.

"Really?"

"Yes. And I am always toting along a resident doctor, so no one will question your being here," he said.

We entered the hospital and Matthias stopped to grab a few charts at the nurses' station. I followed him down the hall and through the emergency room doors.

"Dylin Boyce?" Matthias called into the room of waiting patients.

We waited for the patient to catch up to us in his hospital-borrowed wheelchair, then Matthias led us down the hall to an examination room.

"What seems to be the problem, Dylin?" Matthias asked.

"I fell off my roof. I think I broke my leg." His voice quivered as he struggled to keep his leg from moving.

"Your roof, eh?" I laughed. "What were you doing up there?"

"Taking down the Christmas lights, actually. I told my wife we should just leave them up since it'll be Christmas again before we know it."

"I guess that didn't fly?" Matthias said.

"Nope," he chuckled.

"Well, let's get some X-rays of that leg and we'll see what the damage is." Matthias led him down to the X-ray room and they were back within minutes.

"Dr. Rovert," Matthias began, "I'd like to review the images with you first."

I followed Matthias to the back room and he showed me the X-rays. He pointed out where the bone was clearly broken. I squirmed.

"So it's definitely broken?" I asked.

"Yes, and although this isn't a life or death situation, I am going to ask you to heal his leg for your test. Are you comfortable with that?"

"Of course. Let's do it."

I went back to the examination room and sat down next to our patient. I asked him some questions about his fall and what it felt like and where he thought it broke. I gently laid my hands on his leg, pretending to feel around for any lumps.

"Does this hurt here?" I asked as a distraction so I could focus on healing his leg.

"Yes. Yes, a lot, actually," he complained in response.

"And how about here?" I closed my eyes to focus some more.

"Not as much. Only a little, I think." He didn't seem as sure now.

I opened my eyes and lifted my hands off his leg as Matthias entered the room.

"Dylin, I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but the images didn't come back as clear as I would have liked. Could I get you to come back for some more, please?"

"Sure," Dylin complied, following Matthias back into the other room.

They returned a minute later with the new X-rays in Matthias' hand.

"Well, that's interesting. Good news, Dylin," Matthias said holding up the images. "Your leg isn't broken. You probably just pulled some muscles and I'm sure you'll be one hundred percent by the morning. Go home, get some rest, and forget about those Christmas lights. Most people leave them up all year round now anyway." Matthias chuckled as he gave Dylin a light tap on the shoulder.

"Super! Sorry for wasting your time, doctors." Dylin wheeled himself out of the room and I watched as he stood up and put the wheelchair back against the wall then walked out the front door.

"Good work, Dr. Rovert," Matthias said with a grin. "How do you feel?"

"Exhausted," I admitted as I slumped down in a chair by the door.

Matthias laughed. "That's to be expected. Healing takes a lot out of you. You'll get stronger the more you train."

"Hope so."

"Now, there's one more place I want to take you before we go back to camp."

"Back to camp? Shouldn't we just stay here all day and heal people?"

"Jacob, I'm a surgeon. If we heal everyone as they walk through the door, I'd be out of a job," he laughed.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay, where are we going now?" I asked as I followed him down the hall to the elevator.

"To the pediatric ward," he said in an uncomfortable tone.

"Where they keep all the sick kids?"

"That's right," he responded quietly.

**We arrived at** the pediatric ward, which had a strange sense of sadness about it. Matthias led us down the hall and into a room filled with teddy bears, bright-coloured balloons and a wall covered with colourful drawings and family pictures. Sleeping peacefully in the sterile bed in the middle of the room was a little girl.

"Who is she?" I whispered so as not to wake the girl.

"This is Becca. She's my niece," Matthias said as he sat down in the chair beside the bed. He lifted Becca's hand and held it to his cheek. "She's like a daughter to me."

Becca's face was pale, which was probably why the dark circles under her eyes were so pronounced. Her head scarf covered what I pictured to have been brown hair at one point in her short life. Even though she had tubes running along her arms and up her nose, her relaxed features and quiet slumber suggested she was at peace somehow.

"Why don't you heal her?" I asked.

"I can't," was all he could say as he choked back tears.

"Why not?" I pressed.

"I just can't. I can't concentrate or something. I don't know. I keep trying, but test after test confirms my failure." Matthias wiped a stray tear. "But I know you can heal her, Jacob. I know you can save my Becca Jean." He smoothed his hand across her forehead.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Cancer. Brain tumour. They gave her two months to live . . . three months ago. She's a fighter, but she's losing." Matthias cried, "Jacob, please?"

"Geez, I'll try, Matthias. I've never done anything like this before. Is it even possible?"

"Anything is possible, Jacob. You just . . . have to believe," his voice trailed off as he watched Becca's eyes flicker and slowly open. "Good morning, angel girl."

"Uncle Matty!" her tiny voice whispered in excitement.

"Angel girl, I brought a friend to see you today. He's going to check you over to see how you're making out. Is that okay, sweetheart?"

"I guess so," she answered shyly.

I walked over to the other side of her bed and looked at Matthias for direction. "Where should I start?" I tried to sound confident for Becca's benefit.

"The tumour is in her brain, so start there," Matthias said.

I laid my hands on Becca's tiny head and gently squeezed as I imagined her free from disease and running through the playground, playing with her friends, swinging on the swings, having sleepovers, learning to drive, graduating high school, and living a long and healthy life. I don't know how long I meditated for, but I snapped out of it when I heard Matthias' voice.

"Dr. Rovert, it's time to go. We can come back tomorrow, if need be."

I looked up to see two adults standing at the end of the bed, watching me with uncertainty. I jumped to my feet and smiled confidently as my legs trembled beneath me. I held the bedrail for security. My body was exhausted and I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand for.

"Jacob, this is my sister, Brooke, and her husband, Alex. Becca's mom and dad." He turned to the couple. "And this is Dr. Rovert, my resident."

"Nice to meet you," they responded in unison.

I smiled and followed Matthias out of the room, turning to wave goodbye to the smiling Becca.

On our way out, Matthias stopped by the pediatric nurses' station. "Patty, I want to order another round of tests for Becca. Can you make sure she gets in there today or tomorrow at the latest?"

"Another round, already? We haven't even gotten the last round back yet. Are you sure, Dr. Carver?" she questioned with hesitation.

"I'm sure, Patty. Thanks for being on top of things though. I appreciate your hard work," he said, which I noticed made a difference in how quickly she picked up the phone to make the arrangements for Becca's next round of tests.

I crossed my fingers and said a prayer. For Becca Jean. For a chance to experience life past six years.

#  **Chapter 22**

**I woke up** early on Sunday morning after a horrible dream about Abby having cancer. I figured it was in large part due to our visit with Matthias' niece the day before. But still, it was unsettling.

I tossed and turned until I decided I couldn't get back to sleep. It was our last day at camp and I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I was looking forward to getting back to see Anna, but on the other hand, I had been having a lot of fun over the last couple of days and the thought of leaving made me a little sad.

I quietly climbed out of bed, threw on some clothes and packed up my sleeping bag and gear. Noah started to stir and then opened one lazy eye and mumbled, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I can't sleep," I said as I checked my watch. Five forty-three. Wonderful.

"Where are you going?" Noah slowly sat up and stretched.

"I was thinking I'd go down to the water. Watch the sunrise or something lame like that," I whispered.

Noah sighed. "I should probably go with you so you don't get lost or drown or something."

"If you want." I laid my gear on my bed. Noah pulled on a pair of track pants and a sweater and we quietly snuck out of the cabin, across the field and down the path to the lake.

The grounds were completely quiet. It was still dark out but you could hear the birds starting to wake up. The dew on the grass soaked through our sneakers as we walked the grassy trail down to the lake. We found a couple of rocks along the water's edge and sat down to admire the orange glow slowly making an appearance on the horizon.

"Listen to those loons. Pretty cool," Noah said as he cocked his head toward the water.

"Man, it's peaceful out here, isn't it?" I leaned back and rested against a tree trunk.

"Yeah," Noah answered. "I don't think I've ever been up early enough to watch a sunrise."

"Come to think of it, the only time I ever watched a sunrise was last summer." I smiled as I recalled the memory. "Anna and I stayed up all night on the phone together to see if we could actually do it. I'm pretty sure we both fell asleep for a while, but she woke me up when she gasped and said 'Jake, look out your window at the sunrise. It's beautiful.'" I looked up at the tip of the sun and watched it struggle to break through the horizon. I wondered what the chances were of Anna watching the same sunrise.

"You really miss her, don't you?" Noah reached down and picked up a stone to skip across the perfectly calm water.

"Yeah, I do." I followed suit and skipped a stone, exerting some pent-up energy.

"And you're okay with having to leave her alone?" Noah hesitated.

"Well, I'm still going to be there for her in case she needs me," I reminded him. "But I'm going to try to get her out of the centre of my existence. I'm doing this for her, so I can protect or heal her if she ever needs it."

"That's gonna be tough . . . to get her out of your centre of existence, I mean."

"Tell me about it. She's just so perfect, Noah. She's everything I've ever wanted. She's my best friend and the only one who has ever made me feel this way." I knew it sounded sappy, but that's what the sunrise will do to you.

We sat in silence for a few minutes watching the ripple effects of our stones.

"What about you and Rachel?" I finally asked.

"What about it?" Noah smiled.

"Don't play coy. You know what I mean."

"Well, I really like her, if that's what you mean."

"Yeah, I could tell that much. What do you think she thinks about you?" I asked.

"I really don't know. I mean, she's really friendly to me, but she's really friendly to Claudia too. So I can't be sure." Noah pelted a stone as hard as he could out into the lake. "We did talk a bit yesterday though, during the commotion about your mind movement stuff."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I was waiting for you by the door when you were still inside with Sam. Nick had run to get James and that other healer guy, and the word was spreading fast about you. Rachel ran over to me and asked what had happened. So I told her and she got really quiet. It looked like she was trying to make sense of something." Noah paused as he bent down and scooped up another handful of stones. "Anyway, it looked like a good opportunity to give her a hug, so I did."

I laughed. "You hugged her?"

"What?" Noah asked. "She looked vulnerable and almost upset. It seemed like the right thing to do."

"What'd she do?" I asked. "Hit you?"

"No, she hugged back. Then she told me it felt good in my arms." Noah smiled and turned a little flush.

"Well, that's good. Was it awkward or anything?"

"Big time. I just wanted to pull her face up and kiss her and never let her go, but you know how it is . . . she'd think I was a freak or something," Noah laughed.

"Ya think?"

We both laughed and then sat still for a few minutes as the warmth of the sun became distinct. Then I said, "I wonder why she got all weird about my mind movement?"

"I don't know. She did mumble something about her vision or something. I wasn't really paying attention. I was just relishing the fact that I was holding her in my arms. She smelled so good, dude."

"Well, I hope it works out for you guys," I said.

"Me too."

"So how did your language classes go yesterday?" I asked in an effort to change the subject and spare me more pain.

"Really good, actually. We worked on listening to as many different languages as we could. Then we had a test on translating. It was kind of challenging. I messed up a couple of little things, actually. Well, my teacher didn't seem to think they were little. Apparently you can misinterpret one word and the whole meaning of the sentence goes from being a death threat to something really funny. So I'll have to work on that a bit."

"Sounds like you got it under control." I smiled.

"Yup. And how about you? How did your healing class go?"

"Great. Really fun." I scanned the perimeter of the lake in search for the loons who could still be heard.

We let the conversation die as we sat back and enjoyed the peaceful setting around us. Birds chirped, fish began making appearances above water every now and then and the sun was peeking up over the top of the trees across the lake. I wished that Anna was here.

Noah suddenly sat up. "I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you. Did you know Claudia can read minds?"

"Really? Why didn't you tell me this? That's big, isn't it?"

"Yeah, she told us last night at the campfire. I think you were in the bathroom or something. She can't do long distances yet. She's working on expanding her reach, but right now, she has to be within five feet of someone to hear their thoughts," Noah said.

"Man, I didn't know that. That's pretty cool. Can Nick do it too?"

"No, and apparently it's a touchy subject with them because she can read Nick's thoughts and he can't read hers. Apparently some people gifted with Discernment can do it, but not everyone. Probably similar to mind movement."

"Neat." I started thinking back to anything I might have thought when I was close to Claudia. I hoped nothing too embarrassing.

"Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool," Noah said as he stood up and stretched. "It's almost seven o'clock. What's the schedule look like for today, do you know?"

"I don't know," I said as I dug through my pockets for the schedule. I reached into my sweater and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Here it is. Just one sec." I opened the paper and instantly felt faint. It was Anna's copycat drawings for me. My eyes immediately went to the words 'Always and forever . . . 'till death do us part.'

"Do you have it?" Noah asked confused.

"No. I thought I did." I quickly folded the paper and put it back in my pocket.

"You look like you just saw a ghost. What was that?" Noah reached for my pocket.

I dodged his reach. "Not important. I don't have the schedule, do you?"

Noah gave me a distrusting look and then said, "No, I don't. But I think breakfast is at eight, and then it's free time until, like, eleven when we go to the graduation ceremony. Then we get our tattoos. That's going to hurt, dude." Noah shuddered.

"Wimp," I said.

"You'd be the same way if you couldn't heal yourself all the time," he said.

"Yeah, maybe. But probably not." I smiled as we started walking back down the path toward the camp.

"Well, that was fun. I'm glad I dragged my butt out of bed," Noah said.

"Yeah, it was good."

**We went back** , cleaned up and met the others at the mess hall at eight o'clock for breakfast. People seemed chattier this morning as the weekend was coming to an end. I had to admit that I was going to miss the place. I never felt so powerful. So sure. So purposeful.

I filled my tray with eggs, bacon and toast and was heading back to our table when I spotted Matthias standing off to the side, looking somewhat distracted. I detoured and made my way over to him.

"Good morning, Matthias," I said as I approached him.

Matthias quickly looked up at me and stared blankly for a few seconds as if he was trying to catch his bearings. "Oh, hi Jacob . . . Uh, sorry, I was just thinking about something."

"Is everything okay?" I was hesitant and unsure. Although my heartbeat was quickening, time seemed to stand still as I waited for his answer.

"I just got off the phone actually," Matthias said as he held up his cell phone. "It was the hospital. They just got Becca's results back. There's been no change."

Matthias' face was old and worn. I felt completely responsible and defeated at the same time. This was huge! This changed everything. Was I not able to heal the incurable? How was I supposed to be great when all I could do was heal cuts and breaks?

My arms turned to stone, which I only realized when my food slid off my plate and onto the floor in front of me. I jumped back and tried to keep my composure.

"I'm sorry, Jacob. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have pushed you into something so big," Matthias apologized.

"But we can try again! We'll go back today. I want to. Maybe it was because I didn't have enough time. I can figure this out, Matthias. We'll heal her." I was persistent. This little girl meant so much to Matthias and he had lost too much already. He had already felt enough pain for one lifetime.

"Yeah, maybe. We'll see. It was probably too soon. Your gift is still young. I'm sorry, Jacob. It really was far-fetched and unfair of me to put you in that situation." Matthias lowered his head and walked away. "Healers are hard to come by. I was just reaching."

Slowly, I knelt down and picked up the remnants of my breakfast. I salvaged a carton of milk, but the rest went in the compost bin. My mind was racing, thinking back to everything I had done with the little girl, and anything I could have done differently. My heart was beating louder and louder. When I finally looked around, no one was left in the mess hall. I left the hall, running into Nick and Noah on the other side of the doors. They didn't say anything to me. We just walked together in silence. They seemed to know. Maybe they did. Maybe Claudia told them.

#  **Chapter 23**

**The graduation ceremony** was held on the soccer field. A large stage was set up at one end with blue and white streamers and balloons decorating the stage and podium. Blue chairs were set up on the field and most people were already seated.

"Over here!" Claudia called as we approached the field. She flagged us over to sit with her and Rachel near the front.

Nick greeted Claudia with a kiss and I instinctively turned away. I didn't need to be reminded of how much I missed Anna. I noticed Claudia pull away and whisper something to him about "later," which reminded me of her mind-reading capabilities. Crap! She read my mind. I felt like an idiot. She giggled.

"All right, cut it out," I said to her with a grin.

"Sorry, I can't control it yet," she giggled.

I took a seat next to Nick. Noah sat down on the other side next to Rachel. I noticed Rachel gave him a flirtatious smile, which was not unusual for Rachel, but I wondered, for Noah's sake, if there was more to it than that.

Claudia leaned over to me and whispered, "Yeah, she thinks he's cute."

I pretended to be offended and gasped, "You shouldn't be doing that."

She laughed innocently. "What? It's for the good of mankind, isn't it?"

I wasn't overly comfortable sitting close to Claudia, but I guess she was used to reading people's candid thoughts, so she shouldn't be surprised by anything I thought. I knew she could hear what I was thinking so I thought, in a joking manner, Keep my thoughts to yourself, got it? She threw me a quick, devilish grin. Just like Anna would have.

I caught sight of Matthias out of the corner of my eye and my smile immediately vanished from my face as I remembered my failure. It bothered me that I didn't know what I had done wrong. I did everything exactly the way I thought I should. And most of all, I really believed I was healing her. Now that I had doubt in my head, how was I going to one hundred percent believe anything the next time I had to do something? I was always going to doubt myself now, which would put me back at square one.

Claudia leaned across Nick again and whispered, "Don't beat yourself up about it. These things happen. One day you'll be great enough to do anything."

I thought, Will I? Or am I not cut out for this after all?

She whispered back, "Patience, young one."

I smiled and tried not to think anymore. I was starting to feel a little violated. I'm sure she heard that too because she didn't say anything else about my random thoughts after that.

The rest of the campers took their seats. The ceremony was scheduled to begin any minute. I looked around the crowd and spotted Sam, James and Matthias huddled near the back, discussing something seemingly serious. I wondered if it could have anything to do with my failed healing attempt yesterday. Did I disappoint Sam and James too? Then Matthias held up a finger and reached into his pocket for his cell phone. He immediately stepped back and answered his phone. James and Sam both watched him closely. Matthias closed his eyes and slowly shut his phone, holding it to his mouth. Sam reached out and wrapped her arms around him. James lowered his head into his hands.

My heart sank. That must have been the dreaded call. The call Matthias never wanted to hear. His little Becca Jean was gone to heaven. I watched through blurry eyes as Matthias walked away from Sam and James and up the hill into the mess hall. I couldn't help but feel completely responsible.

A few more minutes passed and James appeared on stage to welcome everyone and make a few remarks and jokes about the weekend. I tuned out most of his introduction as my thoughts were with Matthias. Would this give him more strength, or bring him down? Would he be able to heal his own heart, or could I do it for him? James had said something that first night about an experienced healer being able to heal minds and spirits. Maybe I could do that for Matthias? Who was I kidding? I wasn't even able to heal a body yesterday, much less a mind or spirit.

By the time I put my attention back on James, he was well into a monologue that seemed important.

". . . which is why we have the closing ceremony at this hour, when the sun is at its highest and most powerful. Gifted Ones receive their strength from the sun. We are most powerful in the light. The Defiers are most powerful in darkness." James paused and took a sip of water. "Now, you have all been given the opportunity to consider whether you are willing to commit to this lifestyle. For those that are, when I call your name, please proceed to the stage where you will sign the covenant. Once you have signed, you will then be branded with the mark of the Gifted Ones." James paused again, this time to pick up an instrument on a table, which resembled a microscope similar to that used in biology class. "This instrument will be used to collect the sun's powerful rays and burn the mark of the Gifted Ones onto your wrist. Once you are branded, you may go take your seat."

My heartbeat sped up to a rapid run. Did I want this? Could I do this? If I was only going to be mediocre, was it worth giving up Anna for? It wouldn't be. I'd rather be with her and live a normal life than have to give her up for this mediocre "gift."

Claudia lowered her head and squeezed Nick's hand. He looked in her direction, then quickly in mine.

"You alright, man?" he asked.

"I don't know," was all I could say before I heard my name being called . . . "Jacob Rovert." Jacob Rovert. Did I want this? Was it worth it?

Claudia leaned over, "It's your choice, Jake. But trust me, you are meant for great things."

James Chisholm called my name again, this time searching the crowd for me. "Jacob Rovert?"

But then I noticed Matthias hurrying onto the stage. He took the microphone from James and found me in the crowd. "Jacob," he said. "Please come up here for a moment."

As uncomfortable as it was, what was I to do? Maybe if I went up there and told James and Matthias in person about my uncertainty, I could buy myself more time. I quickly, and uncomfortably, made my way to the stage. My heart still racing, now it ached for Matthias and his loss.

When I reached the stage, Matthias reached out and gave me a strong embrace. I reacted with a tight squeeze.

"Thank you, Jake," he choked through tears.

I pulled away and looked at him, then at James, who was smiling proudly. "For what?"

Matthias held the microphone to his lips and turned to face the crowd, with his one arm still wrapped tightly around my shoulders.

"I have had the greatest honour in mentoring Jacob this weekend. He is one heck of a healer and I feel so privileged to know him." He turned to witness my tormented expression. Then he whispered in my ear, "Those test results were the ones I ordered last week. The new results just came back and you did it, Jacob. You did it!" He turned to the crowd and shouted, "Jacob healed Becca Jean!"

Cheers erupted from the whole campground. My mouth fell open as my eyes wandered through the crowd and gathered all the elated expressions. Did they know Becca Jean? Was this something everyone had been praying for?

Everyone was on their feet now. Cheering. Matthias was still clinging to me, and James was patting his face with a handkerchief. It finally hit me. Becca Jean was alive and she was going to live a long and healthy life because of me. I did it! I was a healer! I turned and hugged Matthias again. "Congratulations, man."

"It was all you, Jake. All you."

That settled it. I shook hands with James Chisholm and took my place next to the other graduates to prepare for the branding ceremony.

**There were thirty-three** of us in total, ranging in age from seven to fifty-seven. James showed us the mark of the Gifted Ones, which was a small tattoo, a little bigger than a quarter, placed on the inside of the left wrist. Noah made me go ahead of him so he could delay it that much longer. Nick and Claudia watched from their seats, giving us a thumbs up any time we looked in their direction.

"Jacob, you're next," James said in a comforting, and almost proud tone. "Come sit here, my boy."

Just as I sat down in the chair across from James, a loud clap of thunder sounded and a dark cloud billowed through the previously cloudless sky, covering the bright and powerful sun.

James seemed amused by this as others in the crowd gasped and murmured to each other.

"Do not be afraid," James began before turning his lowered voice to me. "The enemy is tormented over this. He knows the power that lies within you."

James held his hand toward the sky and commanded, "You have no power here. Your efforts are futile. Be gone and let the sun of man shine down on us!"

Instantly, the clouds vanished and the sun seemed to shine even brighter than before. James brought the tube down onto my wrist and turned the glass toward the sun. I closed my eyes, feeling the heat on my flesh, smelling the aroma of my burnt skin, and hearing the cheers from the crowd. I opened my eyes and saw the beautiful rainbow painted across the sky.

It was Noah's turn. I stood up and gave him my seat and watched as he steadied himself and practised his slow breathing. I ran my fingers over my new tattoo and felt the rough indentation of my skin. The mark was unfamiliar to me. Not a shape, and not a word.

"What does this mean?" I asked James before leaving to take my seat.

"These are the letters "G" and "O" in ancient Hebrew writing. It has two meanings. It stands for Gifted One, and also, the acronym "GO" is a reminder to us that we must go out into the world and fight evil. Never rest. Always be on your guard," James explained.

"Hmm, I like it," I said as I pulled my sleeve back down over my mark and patted it gently.

**After the ceremony** we sat around the edge of the field while Noah nursed his arm. Most of the campers had already left for home but Nick wanted to wait a half an hour so we could avoid the parking lot congestion. It gave us a chance to let all the events of the weekend soak in before we had to say goodbye to the place.

Rachel stretched and laid back on the grass with her hands behind her head. "What a great weekend."

"Yeah, I have to say, I was not expecting it to be that much fun," I admitted.

"Told you," Nick added.

"So that's great news about Becca Jean," Claudia said. "Bet you didn't see that one coming."

"No, that was a complete surprise. I'm really happy for Matthias. He's been through a lot. This is good for him." I smiled as I thought about Matthias sharing the news with his family.

"Becca Jean is one cute kid," Nick said. "She was at camp the last two years."

"Matthias took her here with him?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah," Claudia said, "because she's a Gifted One too. Didn't you know that?"

"No, I had no idea," I said as I sat up straight. "What's her gift?"

"She has Wisdom," Nick answered. "Smartest little six-year-old I ever met."

"Didn't see that one coming," I said, scratching my head.

"Yeah, she was quite the little celebrity at camp being the youngest, cutest and smartest Gifted One," Claudia recalled with a smile.

"Well," Nick said as he leaned in for a kiss, "I don't know about the cutest."

Claudia smiled and tickled his nose with hers. I couldn't help the memories of Anna from flooding my head. I turned away from them and saw Rachel and Noah laying on the grass next to each other. I couldn't get away from it. I stood up and dusted off my pants.

"Let's go," Claudia announced. Thankfully.

Soon we'd be on our way back and I'd be in the comfort of my own home. I reached into my pocket and felt the folded-up piece of paper tucked away safely. Squeezing it gently, I wondered if Anna had thought about me at all over the weekend. I wondered if she had given up on me yet.

**When I got home** I walked through the front door and dropped my bags on the floor. It was four thirty in the afternoon and I could smell supper cooking in the kitchen. It was clear that Mom was cooking and not Dad because the smoke alarm was dismantled and the batteries were sitting on the floor.

"Hey, Mom, I'm home!" I shouted down the hall.

Mom poked her head around the corner and smiled. "Hi, darling. How was it?" She skipped back to the stove and grabbed the top off the overflowing pot.

"It was good," I said. "A lot of fun."

"That's good, dear," Mom mused as she continued to prepare supper. "Tell me all about it."

"Maybe later? I'm kind of tired."

"Sure, honey. Why don't you go unpack and supper will be ready soon."

"Sure." I picked up my bag and stood in the hallway for a few seconds. "So, uh, did anyone call?" I asked as I held my breath.

"No, sorry, darling. It was a quiet weekend."

My hopes were dashed and I was a little disappointed, but I knew it was for the best. I turned and made my way up the stairs. As I passed Abby's room, I poked my head in. She was sitting on her bed playing with her horse figurines.

"Hey, Abs," I said as I threw her a smile and a wink.

"Hey, Bubba," she responded with a big smile.

Abby started calling me Bubba when she was first learning to talk, like, eight years ago. She couldn't pronounce my name, so that's what she came out with—a shortened version of "brother." It sort of stuck over the years, but I liked it, and on the odd occasion when she did call me Jake, it sounded weird. Only from her though.

Just as I was turning to go into my room, Abby said, "I saw Anna when I was out for a bike ride earlier."

My heart stopped and I froze in place. "Did she say anything?" I asked.

Abby put her horses down and looked up. "She said to say 'Hi' and that if you got in before four o'clock to give her a call, otherwise she'd just see you at school tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" I asked as I looked at my watch, confirming that it was well past four o'clock.

"Yes, I'm sure," she replied, slightly sarcastic.

"Cool. Thanks, Abby." I called over my shoulder as I went into my room, closed the door and fell onto my bed with satisfaction written all over my face.

Abby was a blessing in disguise. I don't think she realized it, but she had helped me out more than she knew. My memories took me back to a time when I was eight years old, playing baseball in the front yard. I hit the ball right through Mom's car window. I would never forget the horrible, angry look on Mom's face when she came to the front door and stared at me in horror. I cringed in complete fear, but then she gasped, spun around and ran up the stairs. Thankfully, Abby saved my butt by falling out of her crib. Poor kid, but it worked well for me. Mom was so upset by Abby nearly breaking her neck, that she was almost thankful that all I did was break her window.

Another time, when I was eleven and Abby was four, I was coming in the front door about to unveil my disappointing report card to my mom. Abby was on her way down the stairs when she lost her footing and tumbled head over heels all the way down the stairs from the top. She gashed her head open, but saved my neck once again.

There were plenty of instances like this. Abby always, in one way or another, contributed to my easy upbringing. She was a built-in klutz, and I owed her for it. I just wish I knew I was a healer back then so I could've taken some of the pain away from her, because she undoubtedly took a world of pain away from me on several occasions.

And again, today, lying on my bed, smiling at the ceiling, I had Abby to thank for going for a bike ride and running into Anna. Life was good. So I thought.

#  **Chapter 24**

**We pulled into** our parking spot and Noah took a deep breath, looking anxious.

"Just ask her, man. What's the worst that could happen?" I encouraged as I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed for the school.

"She could reject me?" Noah pointed out as he jogged to catch up.

"So what? So she rejects you. At least you know where you stand. It's better than not knowing, right?"

"I don't know," he mumbled.

I reached out to open the door and saw Anna and Eric inside talking. I instinctively became protective and could feel a growl brewing deep in my chest. Regaining my composure, I walked toward them, with confidence.

"Hey, boys," Eric called as he waved us over.

"What's up?" I said with a nod. I locked eyes with Anna, who was looking exceptionally irresistible. I winked and she smiled.

"Noah," Anna began, "Rachel was just here asking if we saw you."

Noah's head snapped up and he looked a little too excited. "Which way did she go?"

Anna laughed, "To the principal's office for something."

Noah thanked her and left without another word. I shook my head with a chuckle as I watched him race toward the office after Rachel. When I looked back at Eric, I noticed he was looking Anna up and down. The growl started brewing again.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" I asked Anna, pulling her aside.

Eric was annoyed. Good. I led Anna over to the stairwell and cornered her against the wall. I leaned into her with my hands braced on the wall behind her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, confused.

"What are you doing . . . with Eric?" I snapped.

"Jake, we were just talking. Why are you acting like this?" Anna pushed me back, which clearly sent the message that I wasn't the boss of her.

"I saw the way he was looking at you, Anna," I protested.

"Really?" Anna feigned interest.

"Anna!" I warned. This was not the time for kidding.

"Oh, come on. So what if he likes me?"

"So what?" I was shocked that she wasn't taking me seriously enough.

"Yeah, so what? What does it matter to you? If you don't want to be my boyfriend, what does it matter who likes me?" Anna's tone warned me that she was prepared for a full-blown fight.

"Anna, it's not like that," I started, but then stopped short when I couldn't think of how to say what I needed her to know.

"Enlighten me then, Jake." Her hands were on her hips and her head was held high. A confident, independent woman. I loved that about her.

"Okay." I hung my head in defeat. "Meet me at the Coffee House today at four o'clock. We'll talk then."

Anna looked pleased with that. "Okay. Don't forget."

"Please don't give up on me, Anna." I touched her cheek and felt the warmth of her skin penetrate to my heart.

**The day was** progressing slowly. I found myself daydreaming in French class while working on an assignment with Noah and Rachel. I was looking forward to having some time alone with Anna at the Coffee House but I wasn't sure what I was going to say to her, exactly. I couldn't be with her, but I didn't want her to move on quite yet. It wasn't really fair, but I knew I couldn't handle it right now.

Suddenly Rachel gasped, dropped her pencil and sat up straight in her chair. Noah and I froze and stared at Rachel, waiting for an explanation. She pinched her eyes closed and breathed heavily.

"We have to go," Rachel whispered when she finally opened her eyes. Her hands were still clamped to the edges of her desk.

"Why? What's going on?" Noah urged.

But before Rachel could answer, she grabbed her bag and bolted out the door. Noah and I ran behind her and caught up just as she reached Ms. Peters' office.

"What is it, Rachel?" Ms. Peters asked as we burst through the door.

"They're here! They're looking for me!" Rachel gasped with horror.

"Who the hell are they?!" Noah shouted, protectively.

"Oh, no," Ms. Peters said as she sat down in her chair. "What do they want?"

"I don't know. I just saw them here." Rachel threw her hands up in the air and paced the room, nervously looking up at the door every few seconds.

"Who?!" Noah shouted, louder.

"Where did you see them, Rachel? Focus. You can do this," Ms. Peters calmly said as she took hold of Rachel's arms.

"I . . . I don't . . ." Rachel's voice became weak. "Home! They're going to our house." Tears started to stream down her face.

Noah's fists were balled and his jaw clenched.

"Ms. Peters?" I interrupted. "Could you please fill us in? Maybe we can help."

Ms. Peters turned to us and sat down to explain. "This particular group of Defiers is led by Rachel's ex-boyfriend Ryan. When Rachel discovered her gift a few months ago, she broke up with him. Unfortunately, his anger led him to the dark side. He is part of the reason we left California. For Rachel's safety."

Noah put his arms around Rachel. "It's okay. We'll figure this out. You can stay at my house. He won't find you there."

"No," Rachel said as she pulled away from him. "I have to confront him. He won't stop until he finds me and I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"That's ridiculous." Noah looked to Ms. Peters for support. "Right?"

Ms. Peters added, "She's right, Noah."

Noah shook his head in frustration. "So what do we do then? I'm not leaving her alone during this."

Rachel smiled at him. "I'll need you there to translate. They'll speak to each other in another language."

Noah nodded.

"And I'll need you, Jake, in case something happens to one of us. And Nick and Claudia," Rachel strategized.

"Good," Ms. Peters agreed. "I'll get Nick and Claudia down here and you can head over to the house. I'll stay at the school in case they come here."

Within minutes we were piled in Ms. Peters' Jeep and Rachel was driving us to her house. Within minutes we would be face to face with the Defiers. Anything could happen . . . within minutes.

" **This is it,"** Rachel said nervously as we slowed down and pulled into the driveway on the right.

Her house was tucked back off the road and surrounded by tall mature trees. The house itself was a small white bungalow with an attached single car garage.

"Let's go inside and wait," Rachel ordered as we slowly got out of the car, surveying the area for any impending danger.

Noah took a few quick steps to catch up to Rachel. "It'll be okay, Rach. I won't let anything happen to you."

Rachel gave a weak smile and thanked him. Then Noah bravely reached for her hand, but Rachel pulled back quickly. "No," was all she said.

Noah looked hurt and a little confused but he kept his composure. Rachel unlocked the front door and we followed her into the dark living room on our right. There was a bay window in the centre of the room that overlooked the driveway and that's where we waited and watched. Rachel paced the floor behind us, massaging her fingers into her temples.

"Rachel, why don't you tell us a little about these guys so we know what we're up against," Nick asked, breaking the nervous silence.

Rachel took a deep breath and sat down on the couch. "There will be five or six of them. Ryan is the leader. They are all extremely powerful and dangerous." Rachel shuddered and then continued, "If they target any one of us, we don't stand a chance. That is why you cannot, under any circumstances, reveal your gifts."

I looked at Noah who was growing more protective as she talked.

"Why are they here, Rachel?" I asked. "What do they want with you?"

She looked up at me with a tear-stained face. "I broke his heart. He wants revenge."

The sound of gravel crunching under the tires of a vehicle could be heard outside. Rachel jumped off the couch and ran to the window. Peering through the blinds, her trembling voice whispered, "They're here."

#  **C** **hapter 25**

**There were five** of them. All were tall and very muscular. They climbed out of their SUV and carefully looked around the property. The driver motioned for them to follow him as he walked up the pathway to the front door.

Rachel positioned herself between us and the entryway where they would soon be. Noah tried to stand beside her, but she firmly said, "Noah, please. Get back." She pushed him behind her as the doorknob turned.

They didn't knock. They walked in and down the hall and came face to face with us standing in the living room. Rachel stood firm with her head held high.

The first guy forced a crooked smile and removed his sunglasses. "Rachel, Rachel. I see you were expecting us." He tucked his sunglasses into the front of his white t-shirt and folded his arms across his well-built chest.

"What do you want, Ryan?" Rachel asked.

"What do I want?" He turned to exchange smirks with his posse. "Is that any way to treat an old friend, Rach?"

"Well, I know you want something, so just get on with it and ask already," Rachel said.

"I see your gift has improved. I'm surprised you saw me coming, actually." Ryan took a few steps toward her and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. Noah flinched. "And I see you're still as beautiful as ever."

Rachel's body tensed but she made no attempt to move away. "Get your hand off me, Ryan."

Ryan's smile quickly faded and he scowled as he checked out the rest of us. "You have a boyfriend here, don't you?"

"No," Rachel answered.

Ryan caught her eyes and stared for a few seconds, then smiled. "Which one is it, Rachel?" He looked over at Nick who was standing close to Claudia. He ruled him out. Then he looked at me, on Rachel's left, and then over to Noah on her right.

"They are just my friends, Ryan. Is that so hard to believe?" Rachel seemed convincing.

"It kind of is, actually. Given your reputation and all," he chuckled darkly and walked back toward his group. "Rachel, it's like this. I need something and you're going to get it for me."

"What is it?" she asked, hesitantly.

Ryan paused, looked her straight in the eyes and said, "A miracle worker."

Rachel swiftly moved a few steps closer to him and then looked back at the rest of us. "I don't have one," she said, holding her head high.

One of Ryan's friends cleared his throat and said in a foreign language, "Ryan, O yalanci's. O biri biliyor."

"Emin misiniz?" Ryan responded.

"Evet," his friend answered.

I looked quickly at Noah, who I knew could translate for us what they were saying. He grew a little uneasy, so I figured it wasn't good.

Ryan turned back to Rachel and said, "I'm going to ask you one more time, Rachel, but before you answer me this time, I want you to know that I will cause a great deal of pain and suffering for you and your friends if I find out you're lying to me."

Rachel stared him straight in the face and said, "I don't have one yet, Ryan. You know you can't take them too soon when they're not ready, or it will be disastrous. You should know that." Her voice was both persuasive and pleading.

Ryan became very angry. I wasn't sure if he didn't believe her or if he was just angry because he couldn't yet fulfill whatever personal vendetta he had. He let out a loud angry growl, grabbed the lounge chair in the corner of the room and hurled it over our heads. The chair crashed into the wall behind us. Then Ryan went for Rachel. Noah jumped in his way to protect her, which stopped him in his tracks.

"So you're the one." He grinned widely.

"No!" Rachel shouted as she tried to push Noah out of the way, but it was too late. No one saw it coming when Ryan jumped up and kicked Noah in the chest, sending him flying across the room and into the wall.

My heart was racing. I wanted to run to Noah and make sure he was okay, and heal him if he wasn't, but I remembered Rachel's warning about exposing our gifts.

Ryan came at Rachel again and before he could touch her, I jumped up and shouted in a loud rumble, "Get back!" And with that, Ryan and his four, overgrown friends flew back about ten feet into the entryway.

They were stunned, as were the rest of us. I didn't realize that I had that much mind strength.

"What the hell was that?" Ryan asked, looking around at his friends who were equally perplexed. Then he looked back at us and very slowly said, "We'll be back." And they left.

I ran to Noah first. He was still slumped over on the floor trying to breathe. There was blood streaked down the wall from where his head had split open. I quickly laid my hands on him and healed him. Noah slowly stood up and shook his head.

"Noah, I am so sorry," Rachel cried as she wrapped her arms around him. "That's why I didn't want you standing next to me. I didn't want them to assume we were together because he would destroy you."

"Don't apologize, Rachel. This is not your fault." Noah pulled her chin up so he could look her in the eyes.

Rachel blushed.

I looked over at Claudia and gave her a raise of my eyebrows. She giggled and elbowed Nick.

"Okay," Nick interrupted. "So, I was wondering if we might be able to talk about what just happened here."

"Yeah, Noah, what did those guys say?" Claudia asked as Noah and Rachel turned to give him their undivided attention.

Noah cleared his throat, "Okay, so the guy in the blue shirt is a mind reader and he was reading Rachel's mind."

Rachel gasped, "What? But I didn't think that was possible. He's not even gifted."

"But if he was gifted at one point," Claudia answered, "then he could have been able to keep his skills. It's like the strength and speed. It's a learned skill. I've heard of it happening."

"So, anyway," Noah continued, "he read your mind and told Ryan that you were lying and that you knew a miracle worker."

Rachel grew uncomfortable and quickly walked over to the other side of the room and sat down in the chair as she held her head in her palms. "This isn't good."

"Did they find out anything else, Noah?" I asked.

"Not that I know of," he said as he kept his eyes on Rachel.

"Who is it, Rachel?" Nick asked quietly.

She looked up at us with a torn expression. "Simon. Five-year-old Simon," she said.

"Oh, right," Claudia exclaimed. "But he's so young. Do you think they were able to read your mind on who it is?"

"I don't think so," Rachel said softly. "I tried really hard not to think of him so I could convince myself that I didn't know a miracle worker. And if I was convinced of it, then I might have a chance of convincing Ryan."

"I don't get why he wants a miracle worker," I said. "What's in it for him?"

Rachel rocked back and forth in the chair as she chewed on her fingernail. "It would be so disastrous if they got their hands on a miracle worker. They would be able to manipulate any situation. Anything that they wanted, they could have. He could even make me fall in love with him again, if he wanted to."

Noah stiffened. "Well, let's just make sure he doesn't get his hands on Simon. We'll call James and let him know what just happened."

"Simon is well protected," Claudia assured us. "He'll be fine."

"We'll call James as soon as we get back to the school," Nick said. "Your mom is probably going a little crazy not having heard from you yet, Rachel."

"What time is it?" Rachel asked as she stood up and dug her keys out of her pocket.

"Four thirty," Noah said. "Man, I can't believe the time. Let's get going."

"Did you say four thirty?" I frantically pulled my sleeve up to double check my watch. "Guys, we gotta go. I'm supposed to be at the Coffee House right now with Anna."

We piled back into the Jeep and Rachel drove us back toward the school.

"So you're meeting Anna?" Rachel asked hesitantly as she looked in the rear-view mirror at me.

"Yes. But just to make a clean break," I said.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Rachel asked.

"We were friends before any of this, why shouldn't we be friends now? And friends have coffee."

She didn't say anything else, thankfully. I wondered if Claudia was listening to my ranting thoughts about Rachel or minding her own business. I wondered if that's why Claudia seemed so motherly—because she always knew what you were thinking, just like my own mother always seemed to know.

"See you guys." I hopped out of the Jeep and into my car. I peeled out of the parking lot and toward the Coffee House. Two minutes later, I whipped into a parking spot hoping Anna was still there. I needed to see her.

#  **Chapter 26**

**Anna was sitting** at our favourite table in the back. She was playing with an empty coffee cup—not a good sign.

"I am so sorry I'm late, Anna," I apologized as I leaned over and instinctively kissed her on the top of her smooth hair.

"Jake, you're forty-five minutes late," she said, her disappointment apparent.

"I know, I—"

"I guess this wasn't that important to you." She looked crushed. I hated that I made her feel like that. I seemed to be doing it a lot lately and it killed me. She deserved so much better.

"It's not that at all, Anna. This is very important to me. More than you know."

She smiled. Finally, I broke the ice.

"Where were you?" she asked.

I hesitated, then remembering my promise not to lie to her, I said, "Rachel needed me—" but I stopped when I saw her expression go from hopeful back to disappointed.

"Rachel? I should have known." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Jake. I guess I wasn't ready for this, either." She stood and before she turned on her heel to go, she murmured, "I have to go."

"No, Anna, wait!" I called after her, but she wasn't turning back. I knew that walk. She was determined and I wasn't stopping her without making a scene, which after the day's events, I wasn't in the mood for.

**I spent the** evening in my bedroom, laying on my bed, staring at the piece of folded-up paper that Anna gave me before I left for camp. Every half hour or so, I picked up the phone and called Anna's house, left another message for her, then called her cell phone and left yet another message.

The last time I called it was almost midnight, and my message was no different than the previous ones: "Anna, it's me again. I am so sorry. You have every right to be upset. I just wish you'd call me back. Please call me back." This time I added, "I don't deserve you, I know. Actually, I don't even blame you for not calling me back. I'm a jerk. You deserve so much better. Good night."

I was getting sleepy and delusional, but I hoped that my message would at least make her smile. Maybe she'd call me back in the middle of the night when she got lonely. Maybe.

**The next day** as we pulled into our regular parking spot, my stomach was in knots. I felt sick. Was I just nervous to see Anna? Noah and I walked into the school and I immediately sensed an uncomfortable atmosphere.

"What's going on?" Noah muttered.

I looked around at all the prying eyes. "I have no idea."

Then we saw Rachel coming out of Ms. Peters' office. Her smile quickly faded when she caught my eyes.

"What?" I demanded.

"Have you heard?" she asked without taking her eyes off of me.

"What are you talking about?" I swallowed the dryness in my mouth.

Rachel looked around and leaned in to whisper, "I heard that Eric and Anna were on a date last night, and he asked her out again, tonight." She watched me carefully.

The colour drained from my face as my stomach threatened to release its contents. How could she do this? I fell a step backward and caught my balance.

"Jake, if you think about it, this is a good thing. She's in no harm this way," Rachel tried to reason.

"Shut-up, Rachel," I said and stormed off down the hall. I had to find Anna. I didn't know what I was going to say or do when I found her, but I needed to hear something straight from her mouth.

I found her standing outside the classroom door talking to Monica and Lexie. They were giggling about something, but Monica's face turned serious when she saw me coming. Anna turned and gave a weak smile in my direction.

"Ladies," I politely greeted.

"Wow, Jake, have you been working out?" Lexie said as she ran her hand along my bicep.

I was a little caught off guard. "Uh, yeah," was all I could say.

"Not hard to tell," Monica joined in.

"Anyway!" Anna glared at her friends. "What's up, Jake?" She knew very well what I was upset about.

"I need to talk to you," I said as I pulled her away from her friends. She didn't object, so I kept talking. "Is it true? Were you out with Eric last night?"

"Jake, keep your voice down," Anna warned in a whisper. "Yes, I went out with Eric last night. We went to see a movie. I didn't really feel like going home after you stood me up at the Coffee House and when he called me, I took him up on his offer."

"He called you?" It took all my strength to refrain from punching a hole in the wall.

"Yes, Jake. At least I can count on Eric to be there. He doesn't hide stuff from me."

Ouch. "I . . . I . . ." I stammered.

"Don't bother, Jake." She held up a hand to suggest she wasn't going to believe anything I said anyway. "Just answer this: Have you been one hundred percent honest with me?"

I paused and closed my eyes remembering my promise not to lie. I answered, "Anna, all you need to know is that I am scared to death of losing you, but I still care so much about what happens to you." It was the truth, but I knew it wouldn't be enough.

She took my face in her hands and looked deeply into my eyes. "Jake, you're not telling me everything. I wish you would so I could help you. This hurts me so much." Tears filled her eyes.

I turned so my lips could touch her hand. The warmth of her fingers melted my face and I just wanted to stay like that forever. I hung my head in defeat. "I know it hurts you, Anna. And it kills me that it's hurting you. I just . . . I just can't."

Anna huffed and then adopted an annoyed expression. "Anyway," she said as she threw her hands up in the air, "until you figure things out, I'm moving on." She looked past me and her expression changed again as she regained her composure.

"Hey Anna," Eric slid in beside Anna and put his arm around her shoulder. I was pleased to see her smoothly step out of his reach.

"Eric," I reluctantly said.

"Jake," he nodded. "So did you hear Anna and I are going out tonight?" Eric said smugly.

And that was all I needed to push me over the edge. I felt my temperature rise and my fists clench. I saw nothing but Eric and red. My plan was to throw him through the wall, or maybe through the second-storey window, far away from Anna. But then a soft, smooth, familiar touch landed on my arm. It was Anna's touch. I melted back to reality and looked at her perfect face.

"Jake, I'll see you later, maybe," she said in her sweet attempt to calm me down. It worked. Sort of.

I turned to Eric and warned, "Be careful with her, Eric. I swear I'll be watching." Then I left and went to homeroom where I agonized over leaving them alone in the hallway. Would he kiss her? Would she let him? I felt sick again.

I laid my head on my desk and groaned. The sound of Rachel's heels clicking across the floor brought me back to the present as she stopped beside my desk. She knelt down, put her arm around me and whispered, "It'll be okay, Jake. She's much safer this way." She paused and took on a disgusted tone, "And don't worry about Eric. I'll take care of him."

I felt a little relieved and thankful for Rachel's presence. I smiled at her. "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course I would. We're family now." She slid her watch up her arm, revealing her mark.

Maybe Rachel wasn't that bad after all. Anna walked into the classroom and stopped when she saw Rachel and I huddled together. I couldn't read her expression but it wasn't hard to assume she was disappointed, or maybe she felt justified. Whatever it was, I didn't like it.

**When the bell** finally rang for lunch, Noah and I made our way to the cafeteria.

"So how did it go this morning with Anna?" Noah asked uncomfortably.

I kicked at a stray sneaker in the hallway. "Not so good. She's going out with Eric tonight." My temperature began rising again.

"I can't believe he'd do that," Noah snorted disgustedly. "Hasn't he heard of the Bro Code?"

"Apparently not," I said as I pushed open the doors to the cafeteria. I scanned the room and caught sight of Anna sitting at a table with Eric across from her. She was laughing at something.

"Maybe we should sit over here," Noah suggested, leading me away from our usual table.

"Yeah, maybe." We sat down at the empty table, only to be followed by Rachel, Claudia and Nick.

Rachel sat down, took out a banana and started peeling it. "Rumour has it he's taking her to play minigolf tonight," she said nonchalantly.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this right now," Noah said.

"No, it's okay," I tried. "Minigolf?" Ha! She hated minigolf.

"That's what I heard. Monica told me."

Then I had an idea. "Claudia, can you go over and let me know what Anna really thinks of Eric? Can you do that?" What an ingenious idea. This could set my mind at ease, or make it ten times worse. Who knew? Claudia could.

"Jake, I can't believe you'd even ask me that. I can't do that. It's a clear violation of her rights." Claudia was disgusted.

"What? And reading our thoughts isn't?"

"That's different. I can't help it. I'm not doing it on purpose and then telling everyone."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay, I get it. You're not a team player. I get it," I teased.

She threw me a nasty look and then smiled as she shook her head at me.

"You guys want to do something tonight?" I asked in the hopes of spending my evening doing something other than obsessing over Anna's date.

"Sounds good," Noah said.

"I'm in," Nick added.

"What did you want to do?" Claudia asked. "Play minigolf?"

I laughed. "Or just spy?"

Eric, Anna, Tyler and Monica got up and left the cafeteria. Maybe I should go with them, I thought. Just to make sure she's safe. Or just keep an eye on her from a distance.

"I'll be back in a few. Going to the washroom," I excused myself. Then I remembered that Claudia would know what my intentions were. I glanced back at her and she was giving me a warning look.

I'll be good, I promised her.

Anna was heading outside with Monica and Lexie, but Eric and Tyler weren't with them. That made me feel better. Remembering Claudia's disapproval over me following Anna, I decided to leave her be and head to the washroom.

I was only in the stall for a few seconds when the door opened and Eric and Tyler walked in. The conversation that followed drove me over the edge.

#  **Chapter 27**

**I knew it** was Eric the minute the washroom door opened. I'd be able to smell his cologne a mile away. And Tyler, Eric's faithful sidekick, was never too far behind.

"Dude, Anna's hot. Good score." I had never noticed before how irritating Tyler's voice was.

Eric chuckled. "Well, I didn't score yet. Maybe tonight I'll be able to make her mine."

Did I just hear that? My body was numb and it became extremely hard to breathe. Was he saying what I thought he was saying?

"Yeah, I heard she's pretty innocent, if you know what I'm saying." Tyler's voice pierced through my skull like an arrow.

"We'll see about that," Eric said.

And that was it. I couldn't hold myself back any longer. My fist slammed into the stall door and I came face to face with Eric. His eyes widened with fear the second he saw me. Without giving him any time for explanations or apologies, I lunged at him, grabbed him by the throat and threw him as hard as I could toward the row of stalls. When his body hit the stall, they came crashing down like dominoes. Tyler must have managed to escape because when I turned to give him his share, he was gone.

My fists were still clenched and my head was spinning. The adrenalin pumping through my veins at that moment made my body feel weightless. A few seconds later, the washroom door swung open and Nick's voice cut through the sound of my heart pounding.

"Jake, snap out of it! Look what you've done!" He ran to Eric's aid, which was when I noticed he wasn't moving. "Noah, guard the door! Don't let anyone in!" Nick ordered.

"Got it." Noah blocked the door and stared at me in horror. "Dude, calm down. Whatever happened, you have to let it go."

Nick stood up and grabbed me by my rigid arms. "Snap out of it, Jake! You have to heal him now. He's not breathing!"

The room started spinning at a ridiculous speed and I lost my balance. I fell into the wall and grabbed the sink for stability. I hardly recognized myself in the broken mirror in front of me. Then I looked over at Noah who was still sporting a horrified expression, and then to Nick, whose eyes were pleading. Finally, I turned to look at the reason I was in this state. Eric was lying unconscious on the floor. What had I done?

I knelt down beside him, and it took all my strength and more to heal him. I hated him so much at that moment. Nick quickly cleaned up any evidence of blood on the floor while I tried my best to think positive thoughts. It only took a minute and Eric opened his eyes and sat up. Then he remembered what had happened and jumped back.

"What the hell, Jake!" He looked nervously around at Noah and Nick and backed away with his hands in the air.

"If you touch her or hurt her in any way, Eric, so help me!" I shouted, then clenched my teeth together and said, "Just get the hell out of here before I lose it again." He ran.

When it was just the three of us, Nick quietly spoke, "I don't care what your reasoning was, but you need to let this go. Let her go. Look what it's doing to you, man. You can't be with her, Jake, so just let her go."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then pushed past Noah and left. I was too angry to think clearly or agree to anything. The centre of my life, Anna, was being taken advantage of and it killed me. They didn't understand. How could they?

I caught up with Anna in the hallway and grabbed her arm. "I need to talk to you."

"What's up?" she asked innocently.

"It's Eric. Anna, he's not good for you," I said.

"Jake, no one is ever going to be good enough for me according to you." She rolled her eyes and kept walking.

"It's not that, Anna. There might be someone out there, it's just not Eric. Just please trust me."

"Give me one good reason why I should believe you, Jake." I knew she desperately wanted a reason as bad as I wanted to give her one.

I pulled her in close and without thinking, I pressed my lips to hers and felt the warmth that I had been missing. She kissed back, which was a good sign that she wasn't going to hit me when I finally let her go. I tangled my hands through her hair and moaned. This was heaven. She was mine again, if only for a few seconds.

She pulled away from me and looked at me with tears in her eyes. "Give me one good reason," she pleaded quietly.

"Because I need you," I blurted out. I knew it was stupid and I was backtracking, but I just needed to say that. It was the truth.

Anna stopped and closed her eyes. A small smile spread across her lips. "I love hearing you say things like that, Jake." She opened her eyes and her smile faded. "But when you just throw it out there in a weak attempt to try to get me to wait around for you forever—that hurts."

"No, it's not that," I said, reaching for her arm again.

She pulled away. "I can't wait around for you if you're not ready to commit. I'm sorry." She turned and left and I watched the centre of my life get further and further away.

Leaning back against the wall, a weak cry slipped from my lips. Why did this have to be so hard? I did need her. I knew I did, and saying it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

I finally gained my strength to head back to Noah and Nick and face the damage I had done. As I walked down the hall, I suddenly noticed a familiar face standing in the hallway hiding behind dark sunglasses and a black hoodie. I stared at him for a moment and gave him a quizzical look. He nodded and smiled at me before he walked away and that's when I realized who he was. Ryan!

What the hell was he doing at the school? Did Rachel know he was here? Was he here for a fight? I ran down the hall and burst into Ms. Peters' office. She was on the phone but quickly hung up when she saw my face.

"What is it, Jake?" she asked, mirroring my panicked expression.

I caught my breath and gasped, "It's Ryan. He's here. At the school."

I spun around at the sound of the office door swinging open again. This time Claudia and Nick were there.

"Something's going on," Nick said. "We can feel it. Something bad is about to happen."

"Jake just saw Ryan in the hallway," Ms. Peters said, bringing everyone up to speed. "We need to get Rachel."

But before any of us could move, the door flew open again and Rachel stood in the doorway, white as a ghost and looking more terrified than I had ever seen her look before.

"They found the miracle worker!" she gasped. "They have her. . . . They have Anna."

#  **Chapter 28**

**My heart stopped**. If I weren't a healer, I would've died at that very moment. I was sure of that. My hands became numb and the room started a slow motion spinning effect. I could hear their voices around me but nothing they were saying made any sense. I stumbled backward and found Ms. Peters' desk for stability.

They took Anna. My Anna . . . Anna . . . She must be so scared . . . Wait a second! Anna's a miracle worker? Why didn't she tell me? What the hell was going on? My Anna. My Anna was gone . . . Anna.

"Jake, are you okay?" Nick had a firm grasp on my shoulders and was shaking me.

"He's trying to process everything," Claudia filled them in. "He's borderline losing it though."

"Get him a drink of water and sit him down. Rachel will be back here with Noah in a minute and we have to put our heads together to come up with a plan," Ms. Peters directed.

I felt Nick and Claudia move me to Ms. Peters' big leather chair. As comfortable as it once looked, it was now a cold rock.

I had to find Anna. My Anna. I had to find this group of monsters and kill every one of them. I imagined what I would do to them once I got my hands on them. They were going to pay miserably for taking her, and if they laid one hand on her, all hell would break loose. Literally. I was sure of it. My hands and forearms burned with rage.

The door opened and I heard Noah's voice. "What the hell happened in here?"

"It's Jake," Ms. Peters said. "Claudia said he's planning his revenge on Ryan and the others. This is what he is capable of. Lock the door behind you, Rachel."

The numbness in my hands subsided. The room slowed to a steady rocking as my eyes darted around the room.

When my gaze finally landed on Ms. Peters, she gave me a sympathetic look and handed me a glass of water. I took the water and downed it. My mouth was still dry. Claudia was kneeling beside me and holding my hand, the pain in her eyes matching mine. Nick, Noah and Rachel all looked amazed. What was going on?

Then I noticed the overturned chairs, the papers strewn about over the room, the bookcase and all its books on the floor, and Ms. Peters' desk leaning on its side up against the windows. It looked like a tornado had torn a path through the room, entering through an open door as it came, and closing the window behind itself when it left.

"What happened?" I asked as I cautiously stood up.

"This," Ms. Peters said with a hand movement around the room, "is what you are capable of when you lose your mind."

I was shocked. Disturbed too, but mostly shocked. "I did this?"

"You sure did," Nick grinned.

"Okay, whatever. Sorry." I brushed it off with annoyance. "I need some answers."

"I know you do, but we need to be fast. There isn't much time," Ms. Peters said as she helped the others move her furniture back into place.

Rachel began, "Anna is gifted with Miracles. She doesn't know it yet, but she is."

"But you knew it?" I asked.

"Yes, Mom and I knew. I saw her when I had the vision of you." Rachel sounded apologetic in her explanation. "I didn't know it was her at first. I thought it might have been Noah, but as time went on, I realized it."

"Then why didn't you bring her in like us?" I demanded, staring her down.

"We thought we were protecting her by keeping her identity a secret. We figured she would be safer once exposed if our gifts were developed first so we could protect her better." Rachel lowered her head.

"That worked well," I growled.

"Only because they read my mind yesterday. I didn't know they could read minds," she whimpered.

"You're sure she's gifted? I mean, could you be wrong about this?"

"Anna was the reason Monica and Lexie are alive right now. Remember when we were on our way back to the resort and Anna was meditating?"

I searched my memory and recalled Anna praying beside me in the back seat. "Yeah?"

"She was the reason Monica was able to move the Pepsi machine and the reason the shooter slipped when he was about to shoot Lexie in the head. Those things can only be caused by a miracle worker. She is definitely gifted."

Anger swept through me like a violent storm. Rachel never told me this before. She should have.

I immediately remembered Matthias and the story of his family. What if this was an attack on me? What if they only kidnapped her to weaken my defences? They saw us together in the hall. My heart began quickening again. What if this was all my fault?

"Sorry to interrupt, but we need to discuss the game plan." Ms. Peters said. "Now, Rachel wasn't clear about what her vision was showing her. She thinks they might be heading to the airport. The problem is, Ryan likely knows of Claudia's mindreading ability, which means he wouldn't have decided which route he was going to take until after the kidnapping, in case he ran into Claudia. He likely has a few options, and will be making the decision as we speak—"

"Wait! Hold on a sec! Why would they want to take her out of here? Maybe they're just planning on holding her hostage. Using her as collateral for something," I said.

"No doubt they want her for collateral, but they won't do it on our turf. They'll take her somewhere else far from here first." Ms. Peters turned back to the others. "I think the airport is the most likely and fastest escape. We'll take two vehicles. Rachel, Noah and I are going to drive in my Jeep and head straight to the airport. Claudia and Nick, I want you to drive around town first and try to feel for vibes. Maybe they are hiding out somewhere first. If you can't find anything, then meet us at the airport. Call me on my cell if you see or notice anything unusual. Let's go."

Ms. Peters grabbed her coat and headed for the door with the others. I stopped her and said, "And what about me? Who should I go with? Take my own car?"

She laid a comforting hand on my shoulder and said with sympathetic eyes, "I'm sorry, Jake. I need you to stay here. You're not in the right frame of mind for this. We need to be inconspicuous so we don't blow our cover. You are better off staying put. I'll call when we have anything to share." Then she rushed out the door, leaving me alone in the cold, empty room.

The airport. They're on their way to the airport. But if it's true that Anna is gifted, then she could alter that path. If they were discussing where to take her after they kidnapped her, then she could possibly have a lot to do with that decision by just praying about it. Knowing her, she would be planning to defend herself somehow. Escape, if she got the chance. She would need a location where she could use what she knows to help her somehow.

Then the question would be—what options would they be discussing in front of her?

Air? Anna wouldn't have a hope of escaping once they were thirty thousand feet in the air. She would know that. I felt strongly that she wouldn't be hoping for the airport.

Land? Without causing an accident, how would she escape a moving vehicle? Plus, she gets car sick.

Water? That was it! She loved the water, and if they travelled by boat, she would have an advantage of being able to swim long distances. She knew that about herself, and she prided herself on how fast and long she could swim. I was willing to bet that if escaping by boat was an option, she would be praying they would take that option. She would see it as a challenge—and it was a life or death situation, so she had good reason.

I ran out of the school without looking back and headed straight to my car. The tires peeled on the pavement as I sped out of the parking lot toward the downtown waterfront. The challenge would be finding the boat, and of course, hoping I was right about the whole plan.

I called Noah's cell. "Noah!" I shouted when he answered. "I'm heading to the waterfront. I have a feeling they're going by boat."

"By boat? What the hell, Jake?"

"Hear me out—if they didn't decide how they were getting Anna out of here until after they had her, then she would have been able to sway their plans—even if she doesn't realize it. They would've had to have a few escape options set up, and if water was an option, I know she would've wished for that."

"Okay?" Noah didn't sound as convinced.

"You guys should still check the airport in case I'm wrong, but that's where I'm heading."

"To the waterfront. Okay, let us know if you find anything. Good luck, man."

"You too."

**The waterfront was** lined with a dozen or more wharfs that each held four or more varying kinds of boats—fishing boats, yachts, speedboats, and even sea-doos.

I knew they would've had at least twenty minutes on me, but weren't far enough ahead to be out of the harbour just yet. I scanned the waters and spotted a good-sized yacht heading toward the mouth of the harbour . . . into the vast, freezing cold ocean. Anna would never survive a swim from that far out. Maybe that isn't their yacht, I thought as I squinted to see if there was any sign of Anna on board. The words "Ray of Sunshine" were sprawled across the stern of the boat. Ray of Sunshine. Ray. Rachel. I wondered if there was a connection.

I dialed Noah's cell.

"Jake," he answered.

"I found a yacht that I think might belong to Ryan. Can you ask Rachel if the name 'Ray of Sunshine' means anything to her?"

"Ray of sunshine?" Noah repeated.

Then I heard Rachel gasp. "Why did you say that?" she demanded of Noah.

"Jake asked if that would mean anything to you. He thinks he found the boat that belongs to Ryan."

"That was his nickname for me," I heard her confirm.

"I gotta go," I said as I started to run toward a nearby dock where two guys sat on their sea-doos.

"Jake, wait! No!" I heard Noah, Rachel and Ms. Peters all shout.

"Jake," Ms. Peters took over. "You need back up. We will be there as soon as we can; we're turning around now. If they see you, they won't hesitate to kill you. They don't want to harm her, Jake. She is safe until we get there. Please wait for us."

"Can't promise you anything. You might want to hurry up." I hung up the phone as I approached a guy sitting on his sea-doo. "How much for a ride out to that yacht?"

" **Cut the engine,"** I shouted to my driver as we approached the yacht. I carefully balanced myself as I stood on the seat, my eyes on the railing that circled the upper deck.

"What are you doing?" my driver asked. "There's a ladder on the back if you want me to take you over there. It's way easier, dude."

"They'll be expecting that," I mumbled back, not sure if he could even hear. "Hold on." I leaped off the sea-doo and managed to grab hold of the railing.

"Good luck, man." my driver sped off leaving me dangling from the side of the yacht. No doubt he thought it was odd, but he had his hundred dollars and was happy to fulfill my request.

I pulled myself onto the bow of the boat and carefully hid myself from the driver who was perched above the inside cabin area. When he wasn't looking in my direction, I flung myself onto the top and slid one arm around his neck and the other around his mouth. I squeezed gently until he fell asleep and I laid him down at my feet. Then I figured out how to cut the engines and stopped the boat from moving forward. Now we were resting safely in the middle of the harbour.

A voice came over the driver's radio. "Devon, why'd we stop?"

I hovered on the deck above the cabin door and waited for someone to come out and investigate.

"Devon?" the voice called again. "Devon!"

The door still didn't open. And then the voice came across the radio again. He chuckled and then said, "I've been expecting you."

#  **Chapter 29**

**The door opened** and I jumped down from the roof to come face to face with one of Ryan's men guarding the door. I expected a fight, but he only held it open and stepped back so I could have a clear view of Ryan standing next to Anna with a gun to her head and three other guys standing close by.

"Let her go," I said, walking slowly toward Ryan and Anna, but noticing the other three coming toward me.

"Take him down," Ryan ordered, and the three came at me.

"Jake!" Anna screamed.

"It's okay, Anna," I assured her as I blocked an incoming punch and counteracted with a back fist to someone's face.

A foot came at my head and I ducked in time as I swept my right foot around and another guy fell to the floor. The next guy came at me from behind, but as he swung, I grabbed his arm and launched him over my body and across the room, careful not to direct him near Anna. As I dodged another incoming fist, I heard a click from Ryan's gun. I hesitated. Two guys jumped on my back and wrestled me to the floor. An arm tightened around my neck and both of my arms were twisted behind my back before I could react. They pulled me to my knees and I struggled, but the hold around my neck only got tighter. My eyes never left Anna's.

Ryan was chuckling. "You're a better fighter than I thought you'd be," he said, "but anymore funny business from you, sir, will result in pretty little Anna getting hurt. Clear?"

I glared at him before answering. "Clear," I growled through gritted teeth.

"Good." He turned back to Anna, gun still ready and aimed. "Now that we have your boyfriend subdued, let's get back to our conversation, shall we?"

"Will you please tell me what this is all about?" Anna pleaded.

Ryan paced the room between us. "Is this the same guy you were kissing in the hallway?"

Anna looked torn as her eyes burned into mine. "He's not my boyfriend," she said, flinching in reaction to Ryan's clenched fist.

"Jake Rovert, isn't it?" A mischievous grin spread across his face.

"How do you . . . What is this all about?" Anna cried.

"Are you trying to tell me that your boyfriend here hasn't told you already?"

"Jake is not my boyfriend. What are you talking about?" Anna shook her head with confusion. It hurt to hear her say that, even though I knew her intentions were to somehow protect me.

"You were kissing him. You looked pretty friendly to me." Ryan cracked his knuckles, a sure sign he was losing his patience.

"He kissed me," she replied softly.

"That's not the point!" Ryan shouted as he flipped the coffee table over. Then he turned his attention to me, his eyes locking with mine. "Where's the rest of your posse?"

I shook my head slowly, matching his intense glare. He wasn't getting any information from me.

"Doesn't matter anyway," he said darkly. "She'll be here soon." He turned his attention back to Anna as if pondering something—unsure of what he should say next. "So if you two aren't together, that could only mean one thing." His smile returned as he looked from Anna to me. "He was trying to protect you."

Anna's confusion returned as she looked passed Ryan to me. "From what, Jake? What were you protecting me from?"

Before I could answer, Ryan drew his gun and pointed it at my head. Then he knelt down next to Anna and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "From me," he said with a dark laugh.

Anna squirmed away from him and sat back further in her chair. "Don't touch me," she warned.

"Ryan, hurry up, man. He's getting stronger," I heard the guy on my right say.

"Well, there's really no need for him anymore, anyway," Ryan cocked his gun and drew it up toward me again.

Anna tried to jump up from her chair in protest, but Ryan quickly shoved her back into place.

"Anna, my dear, you don't stand a chance against us, so please don't try anything stupid again, okay? I'd hate to have to kill you too."

She shook her head and I could see a tear escape from her eye. "What do you want from me?"

"Well, let's just say that you apparently have a special gift. You're supposed to be a miracle worker, which means you could make me a very happy man."

"You think I can make miracles," Anna scoffed. "That's ridiculous."

Ryan laughed. "Is it?" He walked around her chair until he was behind her. He pulled her hair back and whispered something in her ear. My skin crawled and I felt the grasps on my arms tighten. My eyes burned with fire and I had to look away before I did something stupid.

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend about his special power? About his secret identity?" Ryan taunted.

"You're lying," Anna said faintly as tears fell down her face. "Jake would never keep something like that from me."

"Then why don't you ask him?"

Reluctantly, her eyes found mine and I couldn't find the words to make it all better. All I could do now is hope she would be able to forgive me for keeping such a secret.

"You can believe what you want, Anna Taylor," Ryan began, "but I'm just telling you the facts. That's why you don't need a boyfriend, or friend, like that. What kind of friend lies to you about his identity? What kind of friend keeps secrets like that? You belong with us, Anna."

Anna stiffened as Ryan ran his fingers down her arm.

"Don't listen to him, Anna," I managed to say before one of Ryan's thugs tightened his arm around my neck.

"Then it's not true?" she asked, eyes wide and pleading for explanation. "Jake, do you have some sort of special power?"

Our eyes locked and my heart ached as I slowly nodded the best I could.

"See?" Ryan stepped between us and turned his attention back to Anna. "I'll take care of you now. I'll help you and you can help me."

"But I can't help you. I don't have this gift that you're talking about," Anna said.

"And that's why we have to test you before we take you back to Los Angeles," he said as he pulled out a silencer and screwed it onto the end of his gun.

"What are you doing?" Anna cried as Ryan extended his arm and held the gun against my forehead. "No, please don't!" Anna was on her knees pleading as the tears rolled down her face.

"Anna, I'm going to pull this trigger, and you're going to prove to me whether or not you have a gift. If you are gifted, you'll be able to save his life just by thinking about it. And if you're right, and you aren't gifted, there will be one less Gifted One in this world."

Anna put her head in her hands and sobbed. "Please don't! I don't know how to help him! I'm begging you, please don't!"

Ryan's finger slowly suppressed the trigger and the sound of a click was heard, and then Anna's scream, "NO!"

Everything was dark. Was I dead? Was this what it felt like to die? But I could still hear voices. Then I heard Ryan's laugh. "I knew it!" he shouted.

I pried my eyes open and saw Anna slowly lifting her head. A frantic look in her eyes as she saw me staring back at her.

"Are you sure?" Ryan's right-hand man said as he reached for the gun and checked the chamber. "Do you think it got jammed?"

"What are the chances of that?" Ryan asked, grabbing the gun back. "Well, let's try it again, shall we?" He fired the gun again. And again, nothing happened.

"Let me see, Ryan. Maybe it's jammed." Right-hand took the gun from Ryan and pulled the trigger again. This time, the bullet flew from the gun, over my shoulder and pierced the guy standing guard at the door. Ryan and his right-hand both ran to help their friend.

"Reed! Are you okay? Shawn, what the hell did you do?" Ryan shouted as he shoved Shawn out of the way.

"I . . . I thought it was jammed," Shawn stammered, dropping the gun to the floor.

During the commotion, and with only two guys holding me down now, I easily broke free of their hold and brought them both down. At the same time, an engine noise became louder and the yacht began to rock with waves. Nick, Claudia, Noah, Rachel and Ms. Peters jumped onto the deck from the neighbouring speedboat. I left the two criminals on the floor and went to Anna, wrapping her in my arms. She squeezed me as I stroked her hair.

"I thought you were going to die!" she cried into my chest.

"Anna, I'm so sorry," I murmured as I held her closer, not wanting for a second to let her go. Her body trembled beneath mine.

Noah and Nick stood at the back of the room, holding down the two guys that I had fought off, while Ms. Peters calmly talked to Ryan who was sitting on the floor holding Reed in his arms. Rachel stayed at the back of the room, close to Noah, her arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

Ms. Peters interrupted my moment with Anna. "Jake, come heal Ryan's brother. He's fading fast."

Ryan's brother? "No way." I held up my hands in protest. "After all they just put Anna through? And you want to help them?" What was she thinking?

"Vengeance is not yours," she spoke calmly. "Come. Now."

I unwillingly left Anna's side and pushed Ryan out of the way as I knelt down beside his brother. It took longer than usual to heal him, probably due to all of the negative thoughts I had to work through first. A few minutes later, he was sitting up and rubbing his chest where the bullet hole should have been.

"Thank you, Ms. Peters. Thank you," Reed grovelled at her feet.

"Don't thank me yet, Reed." She pursed her lips. "You know what this means for you, don't you?" she said, shaking her head in disapproval.

Ryan helped Reed up as another speedboat approached and four men appeared in matching suits and sunglasses. They slid handcuffs on Ryan and his gang and led them off the boat onto theirs. Ryan turned back and searched the room for Rachel. Finding her, he said, "I'm not done with you yet."

Noah went at him, but Nick and I intercepted.

"You're just going to let them go?" Noah snapped at Ms. Peters. "Shouldn't we give them a beating or something first?"

Ms. Peters shook her head and smirked. "They'll be taken care of, Noah. You did your part."

Rachel threw her arms around Noah. "I am so glad they are gone and that everyone is safe."

"Yeah, that was pretty intense," Noah agreed.

"Jake, you have some explaining to do." Ms. Peters directed me back to Anna who was sitting in the chair, staring at the floor.

I walked over to Anna and pulled her up into my arms again—where she belonged. I kissed her head softly and closed my eyes as I took in the scent of her hair.

"So this is what you've been keeping from me?" she finally asked.

I took a deep breath and filled her in on everything, from Ms. Peters and Rachel seeking us out, to all of our gifts, to why I couldn't be with her. She watched me, straight-faced, as I told her the long story.

When I was finished, she stared at me for a minute and then looked around the room at Nick, then Claudia, then Noah, Rachel and Ms. Peters. I could see her processing everything I told her. Then a familiar smile crept over her face as she said, "So can we be together now?"

"Yes, ma'am!" I lifted her high in the air and swung her around as she squealed. "But wait," I said as I stopped and put her down. "First I have to heal that cut lip of yours."

Anna touched her lip with her finger and noticed a dab of blood. I leaned down and kissed her passionately for a moment, healing her back to her perfect self.

"Okay, break it up," Noah teased.

Anna jabbed her finger toward Noah. "You! No wonder you do so well in French class. Cheater!" she laughed. "And Rachel and Ms. Peters as a mother-daughter team. That was a surprise. I didn't see that coming at all." Then she looked at Nick and Claudia. "I always knew there was something intimidating about you two. Claudia, so I guess you can read my thoughts right now?"

Claudia laughed. "Not really. They're all over the place. But mostly I can tell you are the happiest you've ever been."

I smiled at that thought as I pulled Anna in closer. I wondered though if it were my thoughts Claudia was reading.

#  **Chapter 30**

" **Where are we** going?" Anna asked for the third time as she sat next to me in the passenger seat, holding my hand and tapping her knee with her free hand.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face—sitting next to Anna Taylor, holding her hand, knowing she would be mine forever. We shared a secret now. We had a lifetime of happiness and adventure to look forward to.

"Patience, my love," I said, giving her hand a squeeze.

We pulled into her driveway and I shut the car off.

"Why are we at my house?" she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest in disapproval.

I leaned over to give her a quick kiss. "Because the canoe is here. And we can't get over to our island without it."

Her disgruntled look turned hopeful again as she hopped out of the car. "What a great idea. I thought you were going to take me minigolfing or something," she laughed.

"Yes, because I know how much you love to play minigolf," I teased.

We raced each other down to the dock and climbed into the waiting canoe. I tossed her the big orange life jacket. "Put it on, Anna," I warned.

"I don't need it, Jake. Besides, you could heal me if anything happened, right?" she tried to bargain.

"I'm not willing to take that chance. Buckle up."

Anna sighed, "You have to wear yours too then. I'm not going to be the only one looking like a dork."

We rowed across the lake and through the canal that took us to another vast lake with our private island. Anna looked radiant in the early evening sunset. The sun reflected off the water and through her golden hair.

It took longer than usual to get to our secluded piece of paradise. Spending time alone with Anna was going to be rare from now on because she'd have to be under constant protection with the discovery of her new gift. I knew better than to rush the time I had with her. I paddled slowly and we watched the ducks and listened to the loons while reminiscing and laughing about old times.

"Do you remember the time," Anna began as a smile sprawled across her lips, "when we were racing down the big hill on our bikes and your back tire touched mine and I went flying over my handlebars and face first into the asphalt?"

"Why are you laughing about that?" I asked. "You were wrapped up in bandages for like three weeks. You wouldn't even go to the dance because you were so embarrassed about the way you looked," I reminded her.

"I just think it's funny because it very well could've been you that flipped, and if it were you, you would've walked away with nothing more than a scraped knee."

"Yeah, you're probably right. But if you weren't so damn selfless, you could've done a miracle on yourself and saved your face from certain punishment," I pointed out with a grin.

Anna slapped her oar in the water and splashed a burst of cold water onto my face. She was lucky I was under strict orders from the elders not to put her in any danger, or she would've gone overboard.

"I see you're using your miracle skills on yourself now though," I said.

"Why?" Anna cautioned.

"Because I can't seem to flip this canoe over," I said as I pretended to rock the canoe with all my strength.

"You wouldn't dare," Anna warned, bracing herself with the edges of the canoe.

I smiled. She was so adorable. "No, I wouldn't. I couldn't."

"Probably not allowed, anyway," she stated, with just the hint of a question in her tone. And when I didn't respond: "Right?"

"What? Probably not allowed to flip the canoe on you?" I pretended to need a little assistance, although I knew damn well what she was talking about. Anna was a very independent girl and the idea of being under supervision and protection all the time would quickly grow old with her.

"Yes, Jake. Were you told not to mess around with me?" Anna demanded as she stopped rowing and watched my face intently. I couldn't lie. Not to her. She'd see right through it anyway.

"Anna, you're a hot commodity now," I started carefully, "and everyone genuinely cares about you and your safety."

She sighed and continued rowing. "Well, I guess that's the price I'll have to pay for being such a hot commodity." Then she splashed water at me again. Testing me, no doubt. I clenched my jaw and used all my strength to refrain from tipping the canoe. Like old times.

Anna sighed in defeat. She had wanted me to break loose. I knew her well enough to know that her new mission in life was going to be to irritate the hell out of me to try and make me throw her overboard, or storm away angry, or leave her stranded on the side of the road. Little did she know that even without rules and regulations, this girl was never going to be left behind again. She was stuck with me now.

**Once the canoe** was tied, I led Anna through the woods and to our big oak tree. When we came to the flower-covered clearing, Anna clasped her hands over her mouth and exclaimed, "A picnic!"

Everything was just how I had left it a few hours before. The red flannel blanket was spread out underneath the oak tree with the basket of sandwiches and cookies sitting in the middle. Two glasses and a bottle of wine rested up against the basket, a pillow for when we took our traditional nap, and one single daisy propped up against the bottle of wine.

Anna knelt down and carefully touched the daisy's petals. She brought the flower to her nose and inhaled as she turned to face me. I reached over and plucked the first petal. "He loves you," I said as I pulled her in.

"He loves me not." She pulled another petal and pouted.

"He loves you." I plucked another and kissed her forehead. She smiled and stepped back.

"He loves me not." And another petal fell to the ground.

"Baby," I said as I pulled the daisy from her hand, "I counted. There are twenty-one petals. Trust me, I win."

I was sure her eyes moistened before she buried her head in my chest. "This whole thing is perfect, Jake. I love that you thought of this."

"Well, I thought it would be nice for us to spend some time together alone so we can get used to the idea of this new life you were just thrown into. I'm sure you have more questions." I pulled her down onto the blanket next to me. "I'm all yours. Ask me whatever you want."

Anna cozied up beside me and smiled. "Well, I am wondering one thing."

"Just one thing? I find that hard to believe," I teased as I kissed her head softly.

"When you said you were afraid of losing me and that's why we couldn't be together, what did you really mean? It didn't have anything to do with the Wentworth incident, did it?"

"Sort of," I explained. "You would've been a target as my girlfriend. Your life would've always been in danger. I couldn't risk that. As much as I wanted you in my life, Anna, it was the only way to protect you." My mind wandered to Matthias and his words of wisdom. His tragic lesson learned. "It killed me to let you go," I added with a lump in my throat.

"We don't need to revisit that. Now that I know it was a legitimate fear, and that it doesn't matter anymore, right?" She looked at me for approval.

"Well, it certainly helps that you're gifted now too. At least now we can be together. I'm sure there will always be danger lurking around the corner, but at least you will now know why I will always be so protective of you." I wrapped my arms tighter around her, feeling a bit like a boa constrictor. I hated talking about being apart from her. "You must have more questions."

Anna leaned over and poured us each a glass of wine. "To us," she said as she held up her glass and clinked it with mine. "May we always find happiness with each other and may we always win."

"Cheers to that," I laughed. We sipped our wine and made similar disgusted faces. Our first taste of wine together, and by the look on Anna's face, it would be the last. "I didn't think iced tea would have the same ring to it," I confessed.

"No, it probably wouldn't." She laughed. "But it would've tasted better." She set her glass down and sat cross-legged in front of me. "So, what do I do next with this miracle gift?" she asked enthusiastically, sitting cross-legged in front of me.

"You'll be assigned a trainer and you'll have to practise your gift and develop your other strengths," I informed her. I was so excited that Anna was finally one of us. There were no more secrets; nothing to stand in our way.

"Why can't you be my trainer?" she pouted.

"Because I haven't the slightest clue how to make a miracle," I laughed.

"But I don't want to go through this without you," Anna said as she plucked a blade of grass and began chewing on it.

"Well then I'll make sure you don't. I'll go to your sessions with you, if you want." I was sure Ms. Peters wouldn't object. After all, they were still trying to make it up to me how they kept Anna's gift from me.

"I just never want to be away from you again," Anna sighed as she laid across my lap and wrapped her arms around my waist.

So this was what true happiness felt like. I looked around at the blue sky, the trees rustling in the wind, the butterflies taking flight, and the birds chirping away in the trees. I carefully pulled Anna's hair from her face and touched her cheek. Then I whispered with all the confidence in the world, "I love you, Anna."

She stopped breathing. The long silence caused me to wonder what she was thinking. Then she finally spoke, "You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that."

I squeezed her gently as my heart fluttered. "And you have no idea how long I've wanted to say that," I admitted.

"I love you too, Jake. Always have."

We cuddled in silence for a long time, just enjoying the moments in each other's arms. I wasn't sure how she felt, but I knew I wasn't in any rush to be anywhere else but here. The sun was setting and a chill was creeping in.

"Are you getting cold?" I asked as I pulled her in closer.

"Jake Rovert, are you just trying to get closer to me?" Anna teased.

"Always," I confessed with a sly smile.

"Well, in that case," Anna said as she sat up and rested her back against my chest, "let's keep each other warm."

I wrapped the blanket around the both of us and held her close, rubbing her arms to keep her warm.

"Jake, will you promise me something?" she asked, intermingling her fingers with mine.

"Anything," I promised. It didn't really matter what she wanted, I knew I would do anything for her. Her wish was my command.

"Promise me you'll never leave me again." Her soft voice was delicate and broken.

My heart ached for a moment as I thought about how much I had put her through.

"Anna, I promise I will never leave you. And even if you want to leave me, you'll still be stuck with me, because I'll follow you anywhere and everywhere. I will never leave you stranded again. I promise."

She slowly turned and sat facing me on my lap. She wrapped her smooth, warm arms around my neck and touched her nose to mine. I pressed my lips to hers and pulled her in close, sharing a kiss that was so real and intense that I would never forget it, for as long as I lived. She was my miracle. I was her healer.

We fell asleep in each other's arms, savouring our first taste of happily ever after, until a familiar vision seeped into my pleasant dreams . . .

**Something shook me** , deep down in the core of my body. I woke up gasping for air and dripping with sweat, realizing the terror was my vicious recurring nightmare. My legs still felt heavy and they burned from my struggle to save the angel in the middle of the field. The darkness, like every other time, had swallowed her whole. The angel, my beloved Anna.
Here is a sneak peek at the sequel to Branded:

### Stranded

**The need for** constant security has Anna feeling suffocated and needing some space. In an effort to keep Anna happy while still providing the protection that she needs, Jake reluctantly backs off and entrusts Anna's safety with Claudia and Rachel. But when Rachel's visions become unreliable, the girls find themselves in a dangerous situation. And when Anna returns the favour of protection, they're all left with the realization that Anna's too selfless to save herself.

Turn the page to read the prologue to Stranded.

# Prologue

**It was exhausting** knowing that every move I made was being mirrored by Nick and Noah—Jake's orders. When would Claudia and Rachel be back? I needed to go the washroom.

"You okay?" Nick asked, his gaze locked on my bouncing knee as we sat on the outdoor patio of a quaint café in Italy.

"Have you heard from Jake? And when will Rachel and Claudia be back anyway?" I pointedly ignored his question.

"Do you need to go to the washroom, Anna?" And he pointedly ignored mine.

"Yes."

"Claudia and Rachel will be back soon. They just wanted to show Eli and Mark where to patrol."

Yes, Eli and Mark—more bodyguards insisted by Jake. I sighed heavily.

"Get used to it," Nick said, a bit of playfulness now gone from his voice. I rolled my eyes so he couldn't see.

Up to this point, Noah had been quietly sipping his coffee. "He just wants to make sure nothing happens to you while he's gone."

I nodded, fully understanding, although not entirely appreciating the importance of it yet.

My knee began bouncing again.

"Okay, up you go," Nick said, pushing his chair back and pulling at my arm. "I'm taking you to the washroom."

"No, you most certainly are not," I challenged.

"Anna, stop being so stubborn. Claudia and Rachel may not be back for another twenty minutes."

I frowned, considering how much longer I could hold it. "Fine!" I gave in, annoyed. "But you're not coming in this time."

Nick laughed. "Noah will go in first to make sure it's clear, and then we'll wait out by the door."

I whimpered. There was nothing I hated more than being followed and watched and guarded all day, every day.

Once the washroom was safety-approved, I headed in and enjoyed a moment of peace while I stared at my reflection in the mirror. No Claudia. No Rachel. No bodyguards. Just me. But now I missed Jake. At least when Jake was near, the others backed off a little.

I dug out my phone from my clutch and sent a text to him:

~ I miss you. I hope training is going well.

Come back soon and safely. xo

I waited a minute, staring at the phone and willing for it to buzz. Nothing. I sighed and continued to the washroom stall.

The door opened and Noah called in, "Anna? You okay?"

"Geez, Noah!" I shouted. "I'm not planning an escape. I'll come out when I'm ready to be monitored again." Rage boiled inside of me. What do they honestly think is going to happen in here? There's not even a window for Pete's sake!

When my phone buzzed, I hurried out to the sinks to read my text as butterflies danced inside of me.

~ I miss you too, baby. Training's going well. Only a few more hours. Hope the guys are taking good care of you.

And the butterflies froze. Seriously? Is that all he cares about? That the guys are taking good care of me? I wanted to write something brave back. Something that would show him that I didn't need protection. But what? What could I possibly say? Maybe I'd tell him that I was enjoying a long walk along the beach by myself. Maybe I'd tell him the others went to lunch and left me alone in the hotel room. Maybe I'd tell him . . . my thoughts and brilliant ideas started getting foggy and I had to clutch the sink for stability as the room began to spin. My eyes scanned the room around me, trying to make sense of what was happening.

"Nick?" I tried to call, but my voice was weak and hoarse. I slumped to the floor. "Noah?" I tried again.

The room was darkening around me when the door opened and Nick said, "Don't get mad at me, Anna. I just need to check on you."

I couldn't answer.

"Anna!" the door opened hard and that's the last I registered.

" **Jake can't find** out about this," I heard Noah say as my thoughts started slowly collecting again.

"I agree," Rachel added.

"That's not a good idea," Nick argued. "He'll be pissed if he finds out and we didn't tell him."

"I don't know, Nick," Claudia chimed in. "He'll be even more pissed if he finds out we nearly killed her."

"I should never have let her go in there alone," Nick mumbled.

"It doesn't much matter how it happened. Jake can't find out. He'd lose his mind," Rachel said.

"I don't know," Nick said.

"She's right," I heard myself say, my throat harsh and sore. "He can't find out about this." My eyes opened and I found myself lying on my hotel bed with my four friends surrounding me. I wasn't exactly sure what Jake shouldn't find out about, but I did know that whatever it was would only cause him to become more of a constrictor—never leaving my side for even a minute.

"How are you feeling?" Claudia asked, removing a facecloth from my forehead and replacing it with a cold one.

"What happened?" I asked, trying to piece together the events.

"Carbon monoxide poisoning," Rachel answered. Nick and Noah both hung their heads. "It came in through the vents. We had no idea."

"I felt dizzy and then passed out," I recalled.

"Doctor just left. He said you'll be just fine. He had you on a breathing machine for oxygen therapy for a couple of hours—to clean the poison out of your blood," Claudia explained.

"Do we know who did this?" I asked. "I assume it wasn't an accident."

Noah shrugged. "There's an investigative team on it now. But, yeah, it wasn't an accident."

I looked at each one of my friends, each carrying a portion of guilt. "This is not your fault," I said. "And I agree that Jake can't know about this."

"He's been texting me," Nick said. "Apparently he's been texting you and not getting any answers."

I remembered back to the washroom when I had texted Jake and told him how I missed him and he had responded with a comment about how he hoped I was being protected. It had made me angry. And before I had a chance to respond, I had collapsed.

I dug through my clutch and found my phone. Eight new texts since our last exchange. Three missed phone calls.

I read the texts first:

~ Well?? Are they?

~ Are they taking good care of you?

~ Why aren't you answering me?

~ I just tried to call. Anna, mess off and answer me.

~ !!!

~ Anna, I'm coming back if you don't answer me!

And then there was a reply from me, which I knew I hadn't sent, so it must have been Rachel, Claudia or Noah. Nick wouldn't have been so bold. It read:

~ I'm fine. I love you.

"Who sent that?" I laughed, surveying their innocent faces.

"Rachel," Claudia grinned. "It kept going off while we were with the doctor so we had to shut him up. Last thing we needed was for him to come back before you were better."

I continued reading the texts.

~ Okay, good. I love you too.

And then the last text, which was received within the last half hour, read:

~ Nick and Noah aren't answering my texts or calls. What the hell is going on there? I don't feel right about this.

I looked up at the guys. "Did you answer him yet?"

They both shook their heads.

"This isn't right though. He should know," Nick said.

I couldn't stop the tears that pooled in my eyes. "Nick, if you tell him, I won't hear the end of it. I already feel suffocated with all the security on me as it is. I can't handle more. Nick, please."

Claudia reached across the bed and took Nick's phone from his hand. "I'll tell him Anna was tired and so we're back at the hotel resting. It's not a lie."

"It's not the truth," Nick pointed out.

"But it's for the best," I said. "He'll be no good if he has to worry about me all the time. He needs to focus too. Just like the rest of you."

"You know he'll find out one day," Nick said, "and when he does, there'll be hell to pay."

"And I'll pay it," I said. "It's my problem, Nick."

Suddenly the hotel room door swung open and Jake stood in the doorway, flanked by Eli and Mark.

"Jake!" I said as I sat up straight and tried to keep the evidence of my dizziness from reaching my face.

Nick and Noah stood to greet him, but he pushed past them and came right to me. "Are you okay? What happened to you?" Then he turned to Nick and Noah. "Why haven't you answered your phones?"

Before either could answer, I said, "Jake, I'm perfectly fine. Look at me. I'm just tired and not feeling that great." I clutched my stomach as evidence.

He touched the facecloth in my hands and then gave it to Claudia. "Get her a cold one," he ordered. Claudia did as she was told and went off to the washroom, pulling Nick with her.

"Lay down with me," I said as I rested my head back down on the pillow and patted the bed next to me. He didn't lie down, but instead sat next to me, leaning over me protectively.

"I missed you," I said, kissing his fingers softly, and hoping the diversion would be enough.

He nodded, clearly not yet in the mood to forgive me for putting him through hell.

"Jake, don't be mad. I'm perfectly safe."

Our eyes locked and he took a deep breath. "I hate being away from you. I felt sick all afternoon."

I forced a laugh, but couldn't help but keep the irony from my voice. "Me too."

Jake looked back at the others standing near the door. "I'll take it from here, guys. Thanks for taking care of her."

Noah nodded and when Nick didn't answer, Noah said, "No problem, man. Anytime."

I sent a thought to Claudia: Please tell Nick I owe him one. _She winked and they left, leaving me in the arms of my protector as I contemplated a strategy to prove my independence to him._

#  **Acknowledgments**

_First and foremost—thanks to God for my continual passion, perseverance and patience. I am not naïve—I know I would not be writing this paragraph without Him._

_Thank you, Austin, for being you—the inspiration behind this novel. You defined success for me when you read_ _Branded_ _from start to finish in just three days._

_Thank you, Judy, Annette and Krista for being my guinea pigs and reading this in its first draft, offering helpful advice and much-needed encouragement._

_Thank you to my dear mother who consistently took my kids off my hands so I could have a few hours to write. Your gift is Helping, and you are my hero._

_Thank you to my supportive husband and children who instinctively knew that when I was cranky, a couple of hours in my Writing Room would fix the problem._

_Thank you to my amazing, supportive friends who shared in my excitement as I wrote each novel, reviewed the cover designs, and prepared for launch. It's been so much fun having you on the ride with me._

_Last, but certainly not least, I would like to say a big thanks to you, the reader, for taking the time to read this novel. I hope you enjoyed it at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it._

**K.L. Hawker** lives with her husband, three children and faithful Golden Retriever in Halifax, Nova Scotia. When she's not writing, she enjoys photography, playing the piano, and travelling the globe with her family.

Join K.L. Hawker on Facebook and follow along on her adventures:

www.facebook.com/klhawker

K.L. Hawker's website is

www.klhawker.com

