I haven’t laid down in a bed in months. I’ll just lay down for a bit and then take a nice, hot shower. I guess I’ll have to put back on these dirty clothes though, for tonight.
Up on the bed, I can see all the beds have thin white sheets and a small pillow each. Both Hunter and Remington’s beds aren’t made. I lay down on top of the made bed. It’s kind of hard, but so, so wonderful.
“Hey, Chrys,” Remington says from somewhere below. I can’t see him. “Now that you’re here, you can pick up some hobbies, don’t you think?”
“Why are you so obsessed with hobbies?” I say.
“Because hobbies make a well-rounded individual. Plus, you’ll have a lot of free time here. Might as well get good at something. Isn’t there something you’ve ever wanted to try?”
I shrug, but it’s not like anyone can see, so I add, “I don’t know. I guess… I heard my mom used to be a seamstress. That might be interesting to learn I guess.”
Mom. Someone I hardly knew, hardly even met. My first casualty.
“Uh, Chrys,” Hunter says, “you okay?”
I sit up in bed. The ceiling is still a far way off above me. From here, I can see the two of them down below. Remington is sitting at his desk with the desk light on, hunched over something. Hunter is standing near my bed.
“Yeah,” I breathe out. “Fine.”
Chapter 10
I walk to the field, shaking off my grogginess. The game has already started. When did I even fall asleep last night? I didn’t get a chance to take a shower but I might as well wait until I get some fresh clothes.
The crowd is separated by the field, sitting on the grass across from each other, but there doesn’t seem to be a certain side for each team. Everyone cheers no matter who scores. There aren’t that many people—maybe just ten or fifteen people on each side. Elise shouldn’t be too hard to find.
Two kids run past me to the field. One looks back at me and yells to the other, “Oh man, close call with the Grim Reaper!” They both laugh and continue to run around the field, to the opposite side.
I sigh and shrug it off.
I reach the side of the crowd closest to me and look around. What does Elise even look like?
“Hey, Chrys!”
Valeria waves at me from a few feet away, sitting on the ground at the edge of the audience. She gestures for me to come. Some kids sitting near her look over in my direction.
I go over to her and sit down. The kids get up.
“Hey Val, why’d you bring the Grim Reaper over here?” one of them says.
They all laugh and walk toward the other side of the field.
I ball my hands into fists. It’s been—what?—less than a day and there’s already a nickname?
“Don’t worry about them,” Valeria says.
“I’m not worried,” I say.
“No one actually hates you, you know that?” she says, eyes on the game in front of us.
I watch her, but don’t say anything.
“Many of us have deadly powers,” she continues, “and have harmed our fair share of people. It’s just that… well, you’re new. Haven’t had anyone new in a long, long time.”
“Yeah, and I feel very welcome here,” I say.
She laughs and turns to me, shielding her eyes from the sun behind me. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days. “Don’t let it get to you, okay? It’ll probably fizzle out in a couple days—a week tops.”
“Is that something you know for sure?”
“Kind of. It’s also kind of a guess. I’m just… piecing together the information I do have.”
“So you don’t have all the info?”
“Maybe you know this, or maybe you don’t, but a gift doesn’t work on the one who has it.”
“Yeah, I know that.”
“So, I can’t see anything that involves me. There are just like… gaps.”
“How much exactly can you see?”
“Ah, well, if I told you that, then I’d be telling you what my gift is, wouldn’t I?”
“You’ve practically told me everything already.”
“Oh really? So you’re saying, based on what I’ve told you, you know what my gift is?”
“Uh… you can… see the future?”
She laughs.
Everyone cheers so she turns back to the game.
“Am I right?” I ask.
“Kind of, kind of not,” she says. “It’s not that easy. There’s a trick.”
“What kind of trick?”
“Something that shouldn’t be possible.”
I narrow my eyes at her. She has a sad smile on her face as she looks at the game, but doesn’t really seem to be watching it.
“Well,” I say, “if I recall correctly, you told me that everything seems to be possible with gifts.”
She nodded and said in a low voice, “Yeah. It seems like there are no limits. It’s scary.” She closes her eyes. “Do you ever wonder how many gifts are out there exactly? Is there a fixed number, just circulating around, or are new ones created every day? Where did they even come from? Do you ever wonder about that?”
“I usually just wonder why I had to be one of the ‘lucky’ ones.”
She opens her eyes again. “Is there some kind of criteria? Of all the babies born in that moment, is it just random, or is it… fate?”
“I was hoping the people here would kind of know the answers.”
She shakes her head. “We don’t really know anything. Anything at all…”
The ball rolls near us. A boy in a black jersey and shorts with flames on them runs over. As he bends over to get the ball, he looks at me.
“Put your hands away, Grim Reaper,” he says. “You tryna kill us all or something?”
Before I can say anything, he runs back.
Valeria is just sitting there with her eyes closed. She looks unaware, at peace almost.
I turn back to look at the boy and huff. Whatever. It doesn’t bother me. Doesn’t bother me at all.
*Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
The thought is in my own inner voice, but it feels… different somehow. Foreign.
Valeria…? I think.
*Nope.
Uh… Telepathy?
*Yes.
Cool. Can
