Project ELE (21 page)

"So?" I ask him. I put my hands on my hips and tap my foot. We are standing at least ten feet apart but it doesn't seem far enough for me. I step back for extra measure.

"So what?" He asks.

"Argh!" He's seriously a sicko and is driving me nuts. He's just toying with me and he knows it! He starts moving towards me and I scoot further back until I feel the desk meet up with my lower back. Backed into yet another corner by Zack; he moves to where he's only a foot from me. He stares in my eyes and I move to avert my gaze. I brace my hands back behind me and grip the desk tightly, trying to gain composure.

"Ouch!" I cry out as something sliced my finger under the desk. A shiver runs up me from the spike of pain and I pull my hand up to examine the damage. A half inch long slash runs along the pad of my middle finger.

"Are you okay?" He asks, seeing the bleeding.

"Yeah, something just cut me." I grab a tissue from a box on the desk and hold it against the wound.

Zack leans down to check the underside of the desk. "Oh, there's a nail sticking out here."

I lean down to see the sharp pointy nail sticking out. Realizing how close our faces are to each other I pop my head up and nearly hit his in the process. I dart a little too fast across the room.

Zack looks at me with an amused expression. "Hey, we should probably get that cleaned up. I bet there's a first aid kit in the hallway somewhere." He moves towards me and holds out his hand. "Let me see the damage." He says.

I shake my head and he walks swiftly to me and stares intensely into my eyes. I can't help but feel a bit hypnotized by the greens, browns and yellows that make up the hazel color of his eyes. An eerily similar hazel to the one that is now in my eye. I surprise myself when I hold my hand out to him willingly.

He grabs it gently and takes the tissue from me as well. He wipes away at the blood. "What?" He looks back at me incredulously. His hand grips my wrist tighter.

I look down to see that there is no longer a wound on my finger. I yank my hand back immediately and hide it behind my back. My heart starts pounding double time. How did that heal so fast? That's Alec's thing, not mine!

"How is there no cut on your finger?" He asks again. He tries to pull my arm from behind my back to examine it and I yank away from him.

"Hey! Don't touch me." I snarl at him.

"Look, I know something is going on with you. I can help you if you let me." He says in a voice that is way to calm given the circumstances and my miraculous healing.

I look up at him in surprise. "You can help me?" I barely whisper. I doubt that a guy like Zack can really help me but maybe he knows something about what's going on. I mean, obviously he's got some freaky stuff happening with him too.

"Yes, I can." He stares deeply into my eyes. "But, I need to know what is going on with you."

Somehow I feel myself believing that he can help me and I show my cards way quicker than I normally would. "I don't know what's going on with me but things are changing." I say still staring into his eyes.

"Like what things?" He asks calmly.

"Like I can do stuff, like I could hear you earlier when you told me not to talk to Alec. I mean, I guess you already knew that, since that's how you told me to keep my mouth shut. But, I can hear everyone's thoughts." Why did I just tell him that?

"Interesting." He scratches his head as if contemplating the meaning of the universe. "And the healing, you can heal as well?" He asks me.

I look at him and then pull my hand out from behind my back. I examine it and find that the cut is fully healed. "I guess so." I say shrugging my shoulders. Remembering what Alec told me about his gift and how his scars disappeared, I look down at my arm. Sure enough the scar from the surgery on my arm is completely gone. I withhold that information from Zack of course because I don't trust him as far as I can throw him.

He uses his finger to lift my chin so my eyes are staring at him again. "Your friends, have they been having these weird things happen to them as well?"

I open my mouth and am about to tell him about Alec but something tells me not to. I struggle hard because half of me wants to answer his question so badly and the other half is sounding the alarms, telling me to shut up. I jerk my head out of his hand and look away. I take a few breaths and then say, "No, it's just me."

He looks at me speculatively. "Really?"

I avoid locking eyes with him because something about his eyes hypnotizes me. "Really." I say trying to put on my best poker face. "So, what about you? What's up with you?"

He laughs, "What do you mean?"

"Seriously Zack? Don't be so coy. I know something is up with you. What is it? Can you hypnotize people or play mind games or what?" I look at him but keep darting my eyes away every few seconds.

"Hmm, I'm not really sure what is up with me. I just know that I can be very persuasive and people tend to do what I tell them to do." He smiles all cockily.

I make a fake gagging sound. He looks surprised at my audacity but then laughs.

"Hey, don't hate me cause I can make you want me." He jokes around.

"No, whatever it is that you do, it doesn't work on me." I say pointing my finger at him. I keep moving my eyes away from his occasionally because I know that it does in fact work on me, even if just a little.

He calls my bluff, "That's not what it seemed like earlier today in the hall. It seemed to me like you really wanted to kiss me."

Ugh, smug jerk. "No, I did not!" I say sounding like a toddler. I clench my hands in fists then say, "Look I need to go. My friends are going to wonder where I am." I turn away from him and head towards the door.

"Fine, but we aren't through yet. I told you that I would help and I will keep my word. That is, if you want to know what's going on with you."

I spin around and study him. I don't know if he has any information but I really would like to know what's happening to Alec and me. "How exactly do you propose you could help me?"

He smiles as if he already knows that he's got me in his trap. "I figure you haven't told Alec yet that your community service is cancelled. Is that correct?"

I honestly forgot to tell Alec, I wasn't trying to keep it from him. Never the less, I nod, not sure where he's going with this.

"Well, I think we need to start our own investigation. There are some things happening in this shelter that worry me and I think that our new found powers are just the tip of the iceberg. Are you game to play a little Nancy Drew with me?" He raises his eyebrow in anticipation of my response.

I remember reading those extremely old Nancy Drew books when I was twelve. I loved the mysteries and found myself reading through the whole series in a year. "I guess." I say trying to be nonchalant. As long as he doesn't expect to play the part of Ned Nickerson.

"Sounds good. When's your next free day?" He asks.

I pull my tablet out of the pouch that I have it in on my hip. I slide the power on and pull up the calendar. "I don't ever know for sure but it should be Friday."

"Friday it is then. Meet me in the hall where you went for community service." He smiles big showing off his pearly white teeth. "You know, the hall where we almost made out."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever." I say, not giving in to his poke. I turn around to head out.

"Oh and Sugar, don't tell anyone about our little arrangement." Zack calls as I walk out the door.

I don't respond to him. I just head back towards the cafeteria.

"There you are," Alec says when I return to the table. "We were getting worried about you. Everything okay?"

I nod my head embarrassed by my dishonesty.

He wraps his arm around mine holding me close. All I can think about is how my life is seemingly spiraling out of control and how there's nothing I can do to stop it.

The next morning, as I'm getting ready for school, I notice my eye is looking increasingly more bizarre. The one eye is still a solid, plain old brown. The other eye is a kaleidoscope of brown interlaced with red, navy and two different shades of green. One of the shades looks remarkably like Zack's hazel eyes. Looking closer in the mirror there is a new color appearing next to the blue swirls. The color is so unique I can't put a name to it. What in the world? I run my hands over my eyes in frustration. It is becoming painstakingly obvious that my eye is a swirl of colors. I'm going to have to think of some other way of hiding this because my bangs are not covering it well enough. I grab my stuff and head out for the grueling two hours of school that lay ahead.

As I'm walking into the classroom I immediately spot Claire waving her hands at me trying to get my attention. "Willow, over here." She calls out as if she's really that far away.

I walk over to her and squat next to her desk. "Hey Claire, what's up?"

She looks at me and points to her left eye. Oh no, I think to myself. I study her eyes and lo and behold there is a purple swirl lining her icy blue eye. It's not overly obvious...yet. I purse my lips not sure of what to say.

"What does it mean?" She asks me.

I shrug my shoulders having no idea what's going on.

"Places everyone, we need to start on time today. Lots to cover." "OH, HOW MY JOB SUCKS." I smile to myself, glad that Ms. Thomas is just as thrilled as we are to be here.

"We'll talk later," I say to Claire squeezing her shoulder.

I find myself getting so bored that I let my mental guard down hoping for some form of entertainment. I hone into the teacher first and listen. I become bored all too soon. All she's thinking about is pharmaceuticals and how they tie in to today's lesson. I look around the room at the other nameless faces. I sense love is in the air as I listen to their thoughts. I scold myself for invading their privacy.

My eyes land back on Claire who is punching something in her tablet, probably to Connor. Then I see it. My heart practically leaps out of my chest. How else can I describe this but to say Claire's arms have completely disappeared! I run my hands over my eyes and refocus on her again. No, I am seeing clearly! She looks like someone cut her arms off! It's like a bad magicians trick or like that game toddlers play when they run out of the room with their arms tucked in their shirts trying to scare their friends. Quickly, I grab the sweater I take with me on a daily basis since I get cold sometimes, and throw it at her.

Startled, she turns to me and mouths, "What the hell?" While putting what I'm guessing are her hands up in exasperation. I stare at the sweater and her pencil, which seem to be floating in mid air. All of the color drains out of her face as she realizes her arms are gone. Well, not really gone since she's still able to hold stuff, they are just invisible...or something!

I motion for her to put the sweater on. She just furrows her brows at me in shock. I keep motioning, hoping she will take the hint.

"Willow!" Ms. Thomas shouts my name. I whip my head around to find her coming towards me. She stares me straight in the eyes.

"Please turn around, please turn around..." I whisper over and over again under my breath so quietly, hoping that nobody notices.

She stops abruptly, looks utterly confused and turns back around. She goes back to the board and begins teaching again, right where she left off.

My mouth drops open in utter shock. I snap out of it when I hear Claire, "Psst."

I turn to look at her. Her face has turned an ashen shade of white. She put my sweater on and since it's longer than usual she's able to wrap the cuff over her 'would be hands'. I stare at her in awe. Her arms are still in fact there but we just couldn't see them. How is that even possible?

Part way through the class Claire starts twirling her fingers through her hair which I've noticed is her tell tale nervous sign. It would be fine but in this instance it looks like her hair is curling around in the air. It's so weird and strange to see her pale blonde locks wrap around what I guess is her invisible finger.

Connor must have noticed as well because he's just staring at her now, his jaw wide open.

She looks up at me and notices that I'm staring at her. Her eyes look wide and frightened.

"Stop twirling your hair." I whisper really low hoping nobody has noticed her yet. I'm not sure if she heard me or could read my lips so I start to send her a text when she abruptly stops.

I let my guard down to hear her thoughts. "I'M GOING TO STOP TWIRLING MY HAIR. I'M GOING TO STOP TWIRLING MY HAIR."

I immediately throw my guard back up. I put my head in my hands feeling an anxiety attack coming on. I haven't had one in such a long time, but I'll never forget the feeling. Taking deep breaths I try and focus on the here and now. Ignoring what just happened, I focus on breathing in and then out, in and then out.

I avoid looking at Claire's arms for the remainder of the class. It's really tripping me out. I have no idea what in the world is going on with us but I know that I need to find out soon. When the bell rings I hop up out of my seat and run to stand in front of Claire's desk blocking her from the view of other people.

I look down at her and am relieved to see her hands once again. "What was that?" I ask her barely above a whisper.

Poor Claire looks even more pale than usual. "I don't know." She says while examining her hands out in front of her. She looks unbelievably relieved to see them again. Who wouldn’t?

"Let's go." Connor says. "We need to find Alec.”

I nod my head and we all get up and head out. I text Alec and find out that he's working through his lunch break. We decide to stop in at the cafeteria and pick up some to-go lunches, then head in to work.

Alec meets us in the hall right outside of the office. I hand him a sack lunch.

"Thank you." He says, then leans in to kiss me on the cheek. While the kiss is sweet, I can't help but notice that he's looking kind of stressed out.

"You're welcome." I say.

Connor and Claire stand in the background quietly. I'm pretty sure they are at a loss for words.

Alec gestures for us to go into a nearby empty office. It's the same one that we were in when we first talked about our newfound gifts.

"So what's up?" Alec asks.

We all sit Indian style on the floor in a small circle with our lunches laid out before us. I look to Claire to see if she wants to talk but she just stares down at her fingers. Connor looks up at me and I can see the worry masking his expression. I notice something else. I lean in closer to examine his eyes a little better. His eyes have lightened up quite a bit. They used to be so dark that they looked almost black. Now they are mostly brown. Weird. He notices my stare so he darts his head down and starts opening his lunch.

"Um, are you all going to tell me what's going on?" Alec asks.

I allow a few seconds to see if Claire wants to speak up and when she remains quiet I blurt out, "Claire went a little invisible today."

Claire looks up at me, her face flushed.

I lean forward and pat her leg. "Hey, don't be embarrassed lady, you certainly aren't the only person around here who's been having some freaky stuff happen to them.” I pull my bangs away from my left eye and point at it dramatically.

Her lip twitches up just a little but she remains quiet. She's reverting back to the Claire I first met. I wonder if it's one of her defense mechanisms. Almost like she tries to disappear when the focus is on her. How ironic that she could in fact possibly disappear now.

"That's really strange. Is this something you can turn on or off?" Alec asks Claire. I’m in awe at how calm he looks.

Claire looks up at him and finally talks. "I don't know."

"Why don't you try?" Alec encourages. I nod my head in approval. Connor just looks a little freaked out.

Claire holds her arm out in front of her. She stares at it for a bit, her eyebrows furrow in concentration. Instead of looking at her arm I stare at her eyes. The purple is starting to stand out more boldly. It's a beautiful color, one I've never seen in any eye before.

I hear Alec gasp and so I look back at her arm. It's gone again.

Claire's eyes water and she looks to Connor with a look of fear. "HE’S GOING TO THINK I’M A TOTAL FREAK." I let my guard down to hear her say in her head. I hear so many other questions going through all of their minds so I close myself off again. It's amazing that I can easily do this now without even needing physical contact with Alec to do so.

Connor leans forward and wipes a tear away from Claire's eye then grabs her invisible arm with his hand and interlaces his fingers with her unseen ones. "It's okay Claire Bear. We will figure out what's happening to you. To all of you guys." He looks to Alec and I.

It takes a lot for me to not say 'aww' out loud. My heart is warmed by the affection that they share.

I lean forward and ask Claire, "May I?" My curiosity has gotten the best of me. When she nods her head I reach over and touch her imperceptible arm. "It feels just like normal." I say in surprise.

"Well yeah, I mean it's not like it just goes away. It's just you can't see it, that's all." She says really fast. I think that small qualification makes her feel like less of a freak.

"That's really cool. I wonder if you can do that with the rest of your body." Alec adds.

"Well, my arm is enough for now. I don't think I can handle much more for today." She gives her arm a concentrated stare and suddenly her arm slowly becomes visible once again.

"That's really cool babe." Connor says looking a little disappointed.

"What's wrong honey?" Claire asks him.

"Nothing." He says then stuffs a bite of his sandwich in his mouth.

"Come on." Claire urges him.

He talks with his mouth half full. "It's just, you can turn invisible..." He finishes chewing then completes his thought. "Alec can heal really fast and Willow can hear people's thoughts." He frowns. "I can't do anything cool."

I laugh. "Correction, I can hear people's thoughts and heal really fast." Everyone looks at me strangely and I realize I never told anyone about my ability to heal. "Yeah, I don't know how but now I can heal myself like Alec does." I hold out my arm for them to see that the scar is completely gone from my surgery. The silence and odd looks they are all giving me makes me uncomfortable so I shift back to what Connor was talking about. "So, you want to be a freak like us?"

"Y'all aren't freaks. Y'all are like super heroes or something with newfound abilities." He counters.

"Yeah, maybe we need to find some more of those radio active spiders that have been biting us and hand them over to you." Alec jokes.

Connor seems a little frustrated, which I personally don't get. He stands up, brushes the crumbs off his scrubs and walks to the corner of the room. He lets out a huff as he takes a seat on an office chair.

Claire gets up to go try to comfort him but Alec puts his hand on her arm stopping her. "Hey, just let him chill for a second. He's a guy and sometimes when guys feel, well, inadequate they can sulk a bit. He’ll get over it in a second."

"Ow!" Connor calls out. We all look over at him at the same time and a simultaneous gasp fills the room. I know my jaw must be on the floor but so is everyone else's. I'm staring at Connor who just happens to have landed on his butt with his legs out in front of him as if the chair was pulled out from beneath him. The key factor that makes this scene so jaw dropping worthy is that part of his body is still in the chair. His butt is on the floor but the upper part of his body from his shoulders up are sticking through the chair!

My brain has no idea how to contemplate this image that makes no sense at all. It's as if the chair is a hologram and he's sticking through it. If I hadn't seen so many freaky occurrences in the past few days I probably would have gone into complete shock.

Claire is the first to regain her composure and run to him. "Does it hurt?" I can hear the fear in her voice.

"No, but I need help up." He says.

Alec and I both head over to where he is. Up close it's even freakier because the chair still looks just as solid as before and so does Connor. He doesn't look invisible or anything. It just looks like part of his body passed straight through it.

Alec holds his hand out to Connor. He looks a little weirded out but he slowly lifts his arm up through the chair to accept his hand.

I stand there dumbfounded as I watch Alec help Connor to his feet. Connor's entire body passes through the chair until he's standing right in front of us.

"Oh my gosh Connor! Stop!" Claire cries out and runs to hold onto Connor around the waist. I look down to see that his feet are sinking into the floor.

"Crap! What's happening?" Connor yells his legs going further into the floor.

I worry about Connor falling straight through it so I grab his attention and stare straight into his eyes. "You need to stop right now. You need to become solid again or stop doing whatever it is you are doing that is allowing you to pass through stuff. Do you understand?" I ask calmly.