AMANI: Reveal (16 page)

Amya Priam

It was almost pitch black and my eyes hadn’t yet fully adjusted to the darkness, but I could discern hair and a nose. The silhouette did not move, however, so I remained silent and waited.
             
Please go away,
I mentally requested.
              But it didn’t. Actually, it didn’t even seem to be breathing.
             
What the…
I squinted and tilted my head to the left to have a better look at it.
              Oh…
             
The good news was, it was only a statue of a woman’s face and neck set on a pedestal base. The bad news: well, I’d wasted a lot of time!
              I sprinted downstairs and joined Mary outside.
              “What took so long?” she asked anxiously.
              I felt like an idiot. “Er, I sort of thought there was someone,” I muttered, climbing up the window. “But it was—”
              “—The statue of a woman. Yeah, that happened to me too the first time,” she replied and clapped her hand to her mouth.
              After I gracelessly stumbled out of the window, I frowned at her. “How many times have you broken into the library?”
              Was that why she had known there would be a window open behind the building? Had she left it open herself?
              Mary’s cheeks turned ashen gray. “Promise you’ll tell no one,” she spoke rapidly. “I live with three other roommates and they don’t—well, they don’t take their studies as seriously as I do, so sometimes when I can’t sleep because they’re having people over, I come here.” She shrugged anxiously. “I’ve never stolen anything, I swear. It’s just that I don’t think I’ll get good grades if I sleep two nights a week for the rest of the semester.”
              When she was done, she looked up at me with such a guilty expression. I found it ironic that a person who had the ability to heal others could be so scared of getting hurt.
              “Your secret’s safe with me,” I said. “Should we leave the window open for Vivian?”
              Mary’s colors came rushing back in her face. With a sly smile, she answered, “Seeing as you’re competing against her, I think that the rational decision would be to not leave anything that could help her win, right?”
              “I believe you have a good point there. Besides, wouldn’t it be against the rules to help another contestant?”
              “Definitely. Definitely. And I’m here to make sure you don’t cheat. So…” She pulled the window down and clapped her hands together. “There. What should be our next stop?”
              “What time is it?” I asked.
              “We’ve thirty-eight minutes left. Oh, wait! Follow me.”
              She led me in front of the library and told me to stay firmly in place, next to the steps. Then she sprinted and started doing a gymnastic stunt with flips and backflips and other amazing things I couldn’t name. When she was finished, she straightened her coat and walked toward me.
              “Whoa!” was the only word that came out.
              She shot me a bashful smile. “I’m on the cheerleading team. A flyer, obviously, because of my height. Been doing gymnastics since I was three.”
              “Whoa,” I repeated.
              “So, hm, that’s two things you can cross off your list now.”
              “Both thanks to you!” I was so thrilled I could have hugged her.
              Unsure whether it was because Vivian had been looking at me like I was a big fat worm drenched in mucus since I first saw her or because this was the first real college experience I’d had, I wanted to win the initiation
so
badly.
              “Look! They’re coming our way!” Mary whispered, pointing at two dark figures running in our direction, one obviously more enthusiastic than the other.
              Unfortunately, Kristin and Vivian cut through the lawn instead of using the sidewalk, which meant that they would see us in an instant. And if they saw us, they might ask me how I’d gotten my book and I didn’t want to lie to Kristin. Luckily, though, Mary knew the college grounds more than I did and, racing across the rectangular-shaped area, we were able to retrieve our steps to the street without being seen.
              On our way up, Mary told me the McDonalds on Queen Street was open twenty-four-seven, so that wouldn’t be a problem.
              “Can I borrow your phone?” I asked, thinking about the third task on the list.
              Karl picked up instantly. “Michelle?”
              “No, um, it’s Amya.”
              He hesitated. “Whose cell phone is this? Why didn’t you just come to the basement?”
              “You’re
still
training? But it’s two in the morning… Er, sorry, I thought you were all sleeping.”
              I explained where I was and why, and after a moment of silence, he told me I should have never participated in an initiation, considering the circumstances and especially in a city we didn’t know, even though I hadn’t been given a choice in the matter. After I promised I would come back in less than thirty minutes, I convinced him to let Xander speak to me.
              “Are you really outside at two in the morning?” he answered, amusement in his voice. “Who are you and what have you done with Amya Priam?”
              This made me smile, instantly reinforcing my decision. “Can you come down and meet me at the McDonalds on Queen Street?”
              “Sure, why?”
              “There’s something I need you to do for me.”
              “Okay. I’m leaving the house in a minute. Be down shortly,” he said.
              This gave me enough time to get to the restaurant and eat my Big Mac.
              “Was this your boyfriend?” Mary asked as I gave her back her phone.
              Very good question, that was. “It’s complicated, I guess.”
              We fell silent as we walked across the train rail perpendicular to the street. To our right, Emily, Patrick, Adam, and Sine were visible, waving at us to hurry.
              “You all have such cool abilities,” I mused. “Especially yours! Have you had the chance to heal many people?”
              “Not really,” Mary replied, monotone.
              “How come? It must be such a great feeling to help others, to take away their pain.”
              “It’s actually more complicated than that. I can’t just heal anyone.” She paused, her eyes filling with sadness. “Not because I don’t want to! I long to have the freedom to heal every single person I meet. I wish there were no consequences, but there are. Every time I heal someone, there’s a timespan in which I feel their pain, as if I’m absorbing all of it.” I stared at her, mesmerized. “But I’m not. Well, not entirely. A small part of the disease or injury stays with me… It’s hard to explain.
              “For instance, when I was younger, I didn’t realize how dangerous my ability was, so I tried to heal my dog after it was hit by a car. I was lucky it only had a broken leg, or it might have killed me.”
              “What happened?”
              “I
did
heal Winston, but I was left with a sprained ankle, and thus warded off gymnastic practice for months. I guess there’s a downside to all our abilities, whatever they are.”
              “Yeah…” I thought of the fact that, every time I Sojourned, my body became stiff and numb, which could be dangerous if someone wanted to attack me while my soul was away.
              “Did Hibiscus tell you why she’s in a wheelchair?” Mary continued.
              “No… oh God…”
              “Yeah. She was very young—I think five—when it happened. Her family lived in a bad neighborhood in London, and one night they were attacked. Her father and two older brothers were killed instantly while she was able to hide in a wardrobe until the burglars fled.” We turned right on the corner of College and Queen. “Then she went directly for the phone and called the police before she returned to find her family… It was a bloodbath. Only her mother was still breathing. Breathing but barely. She tried to help her—to heal as much as she could—but it was too late. Her mother died and Hibiscus was found minutes later, unable to move her legs.
              “The doctors said it was the shock. She’d seen her family die in front of her eyes, but she would eventually recover. When she was old enough to understand it all, she asked the hospital for a report of her mother’s injuries. They reluctantly gave it to her. I believe she was sixteen at the time. She discovered that her mother had been stabbed in the lungs, shoulder, and, as she’d suspected, her vertebra had also been damaged… Of all the injuries her mother had suffered, this one stuck with her for the rest of her life.”
              We stepped into the McDonalds parking lot and I couldn’t have felt less hungry. I had forgotten all about the race and my own problems. What Hibiscus must have gone through was ten times worst.
              “I don’t really care about the initiation anymore,” I confessed.
              “We can stop if you want. I wouldn’t blame you. Though I sort of wish to see Vivian’s face when we win. She’s been arrogant with me since she joined our group. Seems to hate everyone but Patrick, actually.”
              “I’ve noticed that too. Maybe she likes him.”
              “Hope not.”
              I turned to Mary. “Why? Do you have a crush on him too?”
              “Oh goodness, no!” She giggled. “He’s gay, that’s why. Poor girl. And it’s so obvious, I don’t understand how she doesn’t see it.”
              Stunned, I said, “
I
hadn’t noticed.”
              “You’ve been with us two hours. She’s known him for two weeks now.”
              I felt a sort of pity toward Vivian. It must have been hard to like someone who could never like you back. Maybe that was the reason why she was so irritable with everyone else. She wanted all Patrick’s attention to herself.
              Since only the McDonalds drive-thru was open twenty-four-seven, we had to wait in line behind a car and wait for our turn to order.
              “I don’t have any money!” I suddenly realized. “I don’t normally sleep with my wallet in my PJ’s, and even if I had, I don’t have Canadian money.”
              I was about to walk away when Mary grabbed my arm. “That’s one of the reasons why I’m here.” She grinned, pulling her wallet out of her pocket. “Same thing happened to me last year during my initiation.” Relieved, I told her I’d repay her on Wednesday at the club meeting. “No worries. It happened to all of us.”
              She ordered a Big Mac for me and french fries for herself, saying they were the “best in the entire world.”
              Thank God I was able to eat the Big Mac in thirty seconds on my first try, because it was far from my favorite meal and my stomach clearly did not appreciate night shifts.
              “So did you have the same list for your initiation last year?” I asked.
              “Yeah…” she said faintly, her freckles glowing over her pink blush.
              Thinking about my last task and waiting anxiously for Xander to arrive, I continued, curious. “Who did you kiss?”
              Mary’s cheeks and forehead turned scarlet. “I—hm—I didn’t know anyone, so I had to—hm—ask the person who was making sure I didn’t cheat.”
              “Who was it? Is he still in the club?”
              “But we didn’t tell anyone! He had a girlfriend at the time and he only took pity on me.”
              “Is it Adam?” I said much too loud.
              She didn’t have to answer as her facial expression told me everything.
              “Guys!” I heard Patrick shout.
              Speaking of the devil, he, Adam, Sine, the twins, and stone-faced Vivian were coming in our direction.
              Mary quickly turned her back on them and blinked at me. “Please tell me I’m not blushing.
Please
.”
              I made a hesitant face. “Not
that
much, really.” I couldn’t lie to her. “Kind of like a mild sunburn, that’s all.” She covered her glowing face in her hands. “Hey!” I said to the others to grab their attention. “We’re just waiting for a friend of mine and we’ll have finished all of our—my—tasks.”
              “Then you’ll win! Vivian refuses to kiss anyone,” Kristin said, overly upset. I had my reasons to believe she wanted to win more than Vivian and I regrouped.
              Vivian snorted. “I’m not going to kiss
anyone
just to win this
stupid
initiation. I would just like to go back to sleep, if you don’t mind.”
              “Oh, come on!” Kristin retorted. “We still have time to find someone. A cute someone? I thought Amya had already finished; otherwise I wouldn’t have let you come back so soon.”
              Mary checked the time on her cell phone, her face back to its normal color. “We have only five minutes left. Where’s your guy?”
              I jogged to the end of the parking lot and saw Xander approaching. He was only half a mile away. “Come on! Hurry! We don’t have much time!”
              Unaware of my next and last task, he sprinted to join me. I was just glancing at the rest of the group to make sure they were looking when I heard “Ooohs” and “aaahs.”
              And there in the middle of a semi-circle was Kristin, her mouth firmly set on shell-shocked, petrified Vivian’s lips. Everyone around started clapping and laughing hysterically, while Vivian, after the initial surprise had dissolved, pushed the twin far away from her and wiped her mouth with her sleeve before she quickly hid her hands behind her back.