The Talents (12 page)

“FROM THE
time of Plato and Aristotle, human beings have been fascinated by the study of ethics. In this class we have been discussing the questions people have struggled with for centuries. For example, when is an action right or wrong? How can we tell good from bad? Can we judge the rightness of our actions based on the number of people who are affected?”

Mr. Fritz, the puffy-haired troll doll of a teacher, leaped up from his desk and began to pace in front of the room, his hands an animated blur.

“My goodness, he does love his subject, doesn't he?” Jack murmured. His seat was next to mine at the back of the class.

I ignored him and turned more squarely toward Mr. Fritz.

“He is rather cute, though,” Jack mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Quiet!” I hissed. Now that I knew Cam was watching out for me, I wanted more than ever to do the right thing and stay out of trouble. But it was hard to turn around and tell that to Jack when he and I had been sitting in the back for weeks, making fun of Mr. Fritz and the other kids in the class.

“All right, all right.” Jack held up one hand in mock surrender. He sat up straighter at his desk and poised his pen above his paper as if about to take notes.

Mr. Fritz continued to ramble about Kant and John Stuart Mill, who we were supposed to be studying. My attention began to wander, and I slid into a pleasant daydream about Cam making me eggs and holding my hand. It was pitiful, but I'd been in a semi-comatose state ever since he'd said those incredible things to me the night before. It only heightened my euphoria that my dinner with Cam was my delicious little secret. It wasn't that I didn't want to tell Esther or Hennie, but it felt as if something magic had happened between us, and sharing it might make it go away.

I'm not sure how much time passed, but when I slid a glance at Jack a little while later, he was actually listening to Mr. Fritz, nodding occasionally and taking notes. I looked down at my own blank paper with a surge of embarrassment. If Jack could pay attention, surely I could do the same.

“Now, we're going to play a little game. Class, everyone on your feet and push your desks against the wall. We're going to need some room.”

With a few groans, everyone stood up. Twenty sets of chairs and desks scraped against the linoleum floor. They had combined my team with another one for the class, and we'd spent enough time together over the past month and a half that I knew everyone pretty well, even the ones who weren't on my team. Catherine wasn't in the class, thank goodness, but Cara was. I'd been ignoring her since the pottery-class incident, though she hadn't seemed to notice.

I moved my stuff like everyone else, hoping no one could tell I hadn't paid a bit of attention to the lecture and had no idea what was going on.

When we were done, Mr. Fritz dragged a large wooden platform from behind his desk and dropped it in the center of the room with a loud thud. It was about a foot high and three feet wide. “My dear astronauts, you have been visiting a foreign planet, finding a life-saving cure for an epidemic that is sweeping Earth. Your mission is complete. But there has been an accident, and the body of your ship has been damaged. This is the emergency travel pod, and it only has enough gas for one trip back to Earth. Anyone left behind will die. To take off, you must get everyone on the travel pod, for three full seconds.”

He beamed at us and ran his fingers through his white hair, fluffing it to a soft cloud. “Oh yes, and you've got fifteen minutes before the oxygen runs out in your space suits. Better get going.”

Kurt, a skinny kid with limp hair, pushed a thick pair of glasses up his nose with a pencil. “Mr. Fritz, with all due respect, there are twenty of us. There's no way we can all fit on that piece of wood at the same time.”

Several people, including Gideon and Hector, nodded in agreement.

“It's your spaceship,” Mr. Fritz said. “And your crew. You must find a way.”

More groans. I was instantly reminded of our trip up the wall. What was it about this school and its obsession with group activities? I tried to force myself to hang back from the crowd, but I couldn't help throwing out a suggestion here and there as we tried various positions on the platform. We put some of the group on shoulders, stood on each other's feet, and held on to each other. I'm tall, so everyone thought I should be on the outside of the circle. This left the short, cute girls, like Allie, to stand on my feet, which I did not appreciate. But everyone was groaning and laughing, so I put aside my irritation. We got close to success, but someone slipped off the platform before we could count to three.

“Is this some kind of lesson in futility?” Alessandro snickered. “Is it ethical to say we quit?”

“This is stupid,” a dark-haired girl named Morah said, not quite under her breath.

The momentum in the group slowly fizzled out, and before long we were reduced to aimless attempts at the same things we'd done before. Ten minutes passed. I didn't like the idea of giving up, but I was out of ideas and starting to get frustrated.

Jack, who had been reclining against one of the desks, raised his voice above the mumbled conversations. “We're going to have to sacrifice some of the group.”

“Are you kidding me?” Yashir looked horrified. “Sacrifice some of our group? As in, leave some of us behind?”

“Right. It's the only way to get the cure back to Earth.” Jack spoke casually, his hands thrust deep into his pockets.

The room exploded into conversation. “What?”

“I'm not staying behind.”

“We can't divide the group.”

“You're sick, man. Truly sick.”

A smile played around Jack's mouth as he watched them. For some reason, this ticked me off. We had been having a good time. Sure, we weren't succeeding, but it had been fun trying. Everyone was in a good mood. Why did Jack have to go and ruin it?

“Let's leave him behind.”

“Yeah, if you think we should leave someone behind, how about you?”

Jack sat down in one of the discarded chairs. He laced his fingers together behind his head and leaned back. “I was simply pointing out an option. You can leave me behind if you want.”

“You have three minutes left,” Mr. Fritz called from behind his desk. I could have sworn he was trying not to smile. That's when I realized he must have known the platform was too small. This whole thing was nothing more than a setup to get us to realize we were going to have to do something drastic if we wanted our “mission” to succeed.

Everyone panicked. Yashir and Marika and a couple from the other team started barking orders at everyone, telling them to jump up on the platform and hold hands like we had tried once before. I stood there and watched, getting angrier by the second. A few people called me to jump on, but I waved them off. My hands clenched into fists.

They assembled on the platform, strangely serious now. Little clumps of people fell off every few seconds and then scrambled to get back in the group.

“One minute!” Mr. Fritz held up his watch.

Jack stood and ambled over to me. “What a bunch of morons,” he whispered. “You would think they're really trying to save the earth. What do you say we knock them over?”

“No way, Jack,” I said. “I want them to do it.”

Cam would want them to do it, I thought. Cam wouldn't like the way Jack was trying to mess things up. Cam would want them to do it, and he'd want me to help.

“Come on, it would be fun,” Jack said. “Just a little nudge and they'd all fall down, like a human domino chain. You have to admit you'd like to see that.”

“No, I wouldn't, Jack.”

Okay, I wouldn't have minded seeing Allie fall down, or Marika, or Cara. I stared at them, happily clutching each other as they stood on the platform, and for a minute I was back in that hallway, hearing them talking about me…laughing about me.…

“Tell you what, I'll knock them over, and you can watch.” Jack took a purposeful step toward the group. He winked at me over his shoulder and started to raise his hands.

I shook my head to try to erase those horrible feelings. I wasn't going to allow Jack to do something mean.

Looking back, I don't know what I thought I could do—hold the whole group up on the platform? Drop something heavy on Jack? Whatever it was, the desire to do
something
was overpowering. The need rose inside me, almost a physical thing, and then I felt the familiar tingle and heard the whoosh in my ears.

It was the power. When I realized what was happening, I shut my eyes tightly and clenched my fists. No, I begged. Not now. What if I hurt one of my classmates? What if the whole school found out about me?

I would be in so much trouble if the power took over. I wouldn't be able to stay. I didn't know what they'd do with me, but they wouldn't let me stay and pretend that I was a normal kid.

I forced myself to take a deep breath and think before I did anything stupid. I knew whatever popped into my mind was going to happen, but what if the thing I imagined was that nothing happened?

Sounded crazy, but worth a try.

I opened my eyes and stared at the platform, refusing to look away even when Jack whispered my name. I focused on the wood, trying desperately to keep my mind fixed on everything as it existed right at that moment. Surely if I filled my thoughts that way, nothing bad could happen.

The desire to look away was so strong, my hands began to shake. I set my jaw, determined not to let go. I told myself it was just like being in a staring match with Grandma. The vision of the wood wavered but did not disappear.

Jack leaned forward, his face close to mine. I ignored him as deliberately as I shut out the power. A second later, the tingle faded. The tight grip I had on my body relaxed so suddenly I stumbled backward and almost fell to the ground. At the same time, I heard the group chant, “One, two, three!”

They exploded into cheers. They must have done it, I realized dimly. The taste of bile unexpectedly filled my throat.

I raised my hand. “I need to go to the bathroom, Mr. Fritz,” I managed to croak out as my stomach lurched.

Without waiting for a response, I ran down the hall to the girls' room and made it into a stall just in time to bring up the foul remnants of the frosted flakes I had eaten for breakfast.

Again and again I retched until I had emptied my stomach and the stuff I was bringing up burned my mouth and my nose. When I could see clearly, I leaned back against the bathroom stall and raised a shaking hand to wipe the sweat off my forehead. I was hot and cold at the same time, and so tired, I thought I might pass out.

Was this the price to be paid for refusing to use my power? My stomach roiled and cramped, and my limbs were like limp white noodles on the floor of the bathroom. A tear dribbled out of the corner of my eye and slid down my cheek. I was too tired to wipe it away.

Someone knocked on the stall door. “Dancia, are you all right?”

Great. That's all I needed. A rescue party.

“Yeah, thanks.” I tried not to groan the words.

“Are you sure? Mr. Fritz wanted me to check on you.”

I looked at the bottom of the stall door, where I could see a pair of cute brown boots with stacked heels. It was Allie.

“No, I'm feeling better. I must have had eaten something funny at breakfast.” I tried to make my voice sound strong, but I don't think it worked.

“Okay.” She sounded doubtful. “If you're sure.”

“I'm sure.”

I watched the boots pause for a moment, then clomp out of the bathroom. When I heard the door swing closed, I pushed my hair back from my face and tried to stand. My legs felt decidedly unsteady, so I stopped halfway and sat on the toilet.

I didn't seem to be feeling any better, but I also didn't seem to be getting worse. I decided to try to walk back to class. My head spun as I got to my feet and started to pull open the door.

My legs started to shake. Just before they buckled, I leaned against the wall. My body slid against the cold metal like a jellyfish. When I reached the ground, I dropped my head onto my knees.

Damn, damn, damn. A sob of rage and frustration built deep in my throat. I refused to let it escape. Not here, not when Mr. Fritz could burst in at any second.

My brief triumph at having squelched my power faded as the colors swirled behind my closed eyes. I might have discovered the ability to stop the power, but clearly this was no alternative. I couldn't spend my life throwing up, passing out, or huddling in a bathroom, unable to walk. Apparently, my power was a part of me, and trying to stop it was like trying to cut off my arm.

But what was the alternative? Going back to the way things had been in middle school? Hiding and making myself invisible? Blowing off Cam, Jack, even Hennie and Esther, and making myself into a pariah? That no longer sounded like much of an option. For one, it hadn't really worked in the past. I'd been doing it since I was ten, after all, and I hadn't been able to stop myself from wreaking havoc. If anything, I was using my power more as I got older, not less.