Elevated (Book 1): Elevated (6 page)

He sighs. “The government doesn’t take kindly to rogue Elevated. It might be best to turn yourself in now. You’re young.”

“I don’t intend on using my powers anyway.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Why is that?”

“A kid like you, off the grid, could be helpful for my group. I could even teach you how to hone your power. What is it anyway?”

“What do you know about Elevated powers?”

“More than you.”

His ego is beginning to annoy me. Besides, the last thing I want is it to develop my powers. I never asked for them anyway. “Please don’t tell Aaron, ok? I’m not sure how I will.”

“We’ve all done stupid things for love before,” Jex says. “Of course, in your case, it’s kind of beyond stupid. More like catastrophically idiotic.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

CHAPTER FIVE

The mood in the waiting room is tenser than before. The mix of excitement and anxiety has melted into an atmosphere of pure gloom. After days of waiting, only a few parents remain. They still hold hope for their child’s future.

Tearful students enter the room and begin to call their parents to pick them up. It’s possible that their powers will develop late, but the truth is that most of them will be part of the Lessers in a few years. Their abilities will be weak or practically nonexistent. They need to hone a skill that would utilize their talents. Abilities can be an easy path to success, but some skills go beyond mutant tricks.

More groups trickle in from the test rooms. Elliott is nowhere in sight. The dreary background music lures me into a nap, until the sharp-edged chair underneath pokes me back awake.

Finally, Elliott emerges from the test rooms. His worn grey shirt and frazzled hair is nothing like the spotless outfit from the day I met him. I wave. He doesn’t notice.

“Elliott!” I call out.

He’s surprised to see me. He waves and rushes over. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see how you were doing.”

He gestures at the screen. “Still undetermined.”

I nod. “I saw.”

He massages his head, rubbing fingers through his messy brown hair. “Abilities appear late though, right?” I’m sure I—I—mean—this is so frustrating.”

He clenches his fists. Instinctively, I take a step back. Don’t know what would happen if he zapped me twice.

His hands loosen as his voice drops. “You never think it will be you. The one sitting, waiting, hoping. I envy you.”

“Envy me?”

“You left on your terms. You decided you didn’t want a part of this stupid system. And you left. Gutsy move.”

He’s making this awkward. How can I tell him now?

Elliott shrugs. “You were right. Why would anyone do it if not for the chance to get a super power? I mean, sure, we all say, ‘I’ll take anything’ but deep down, it’s just a lie.”

He’s deflated. And worse, I’m responsible. He had been looking forward to this day more than anything. And I came in to burst his bubble. “Elliott, I—”

He raises his hand to silence me. “I just want to know. That’s it. Put me out of my misery.”

I can tell him. But I don’t know how. I still can’t believe they haven’t discovered it. “Have they been checking out your hands?”

“Yeah. Standard stuff. Prod here, poke there, trying to get you angry so your new power energy surfaces. My hands glow sometimes, but even though I keep touching Fred, nothing happens.”

Elliott must notice my confused expression because he laughs. “Oh! Fred’s my test animal. He’s a little white bunny with a black spot. Sad we have to use such cute creatures to test, but they can’t have me zapping people to the floor.” As he finishes the words, his face turns pink.

 I try to change the subject. “How many more days do you have?”

“This is it. I’m classified as a non-developed. As far as they can tell, my powers are weak. My hands have some sort of energy, but it seems to have no impact on animals or humans. Or flowers.” He pauses and leans in. “In a way, I’m glad.”

“Glad?”

 “I don’t know what I did.” He glances around the room, nervous he’ll be overheard by someone. “But I’m not sure I want it to happen again. A power like that could—well, it could make me an Unsound.”

It’s like a baseball bat to the head. I hadn’t considered that. Activating abilities within people isn’t something I’ve heard of before. What if it could label him an Unsound? How could I doom him to a life imprisoned like my dad?

A wry smirk develops on his face. “It’s funny. I guess we aren’t much different. Neither of us knows what’s ‘locked’ inside.”

To say anything now would be a mistake, but I’m not sure how long I can keep this information from him. I hate secrets. Whenever I have one, the whole world plots against me to reveal it. Now I have two. Elliott won’t discover his power in a few more hours if they haven’t found it yet. So now, there’s a choice. I don’t tell him and he lives a normal life, or I tell him and risk him becoming an Unsound. At any rate, a normal life would be impossible with an odd ability like that.

DING!

A monotone voice echoes through the empty chamber. “Attention please! Subjects A535, A538 and A539 should report to the testing facility.”

Elliott takes a deep breath. “That’s me.”

“Right.”

He heads towards the testing rooms, then turns around. “I’m out at 4:30. Want to grab dinner somewhere and talk?”

Talking over dinner makes sense. Maybe there, away from the people and in a less muggy room, I can think straight.

“Ok.”

“Any suggestions?”

“I like Basic Cuisine. It’s my favorite restaurant.”

“5:30?”

Great. Time to think. “Ok.”

“Alright see you there.” He heads back to the testing rooms.

“Say hi to Fred for me,” I call out as he leaves.

“Will do,” he says as he walks with a bouncy step.

I don’t have a plan, but delaying the conversation means I don’t have to think about what I will say, or how I will say it, for a while. At least for a few hours. A few short hours.

***

 “I can’t believe you said yes,” Mom says as we drive over to Basic Cuisine. “But couldn’t you have changed your shirt and pants? First impressions are important on a first date.”

A shiver shoots down my spine. “First date? I’m just meeting a guy for dinner.”

She stares at me like I’m crazy. “There is no such thing as just ‘meeting a guy for dinner.’”

“Aaron and I have dinner sometimes.”

“Aaron isn’t a guy. I mean, not in that way. He’s not right?”

I want to defend Aaron, but I don’t want mom to worry there is anything between us. But even though he’s like a brother to me, I’m sure some girl out there would go for him. I think back to my conversation with Elliott and gulp. The thought that he asked me on a date hadn’t occurred to me. My mind had jumped to suggesting a quiet place where I felt comfortable. Was this really a date? I wondered what he thought, and what I implied by asking to meet at Basic Cuisine.

By the time we reach the restaurant, I’m a mess. Somehow, I landed myself a date without realizing it and now I’m wearing this sloppy outfit. I can’t believe I didn’t notice this before. Was I so brain dead that I didn’t check a mirror? My hair’s a frazzled catastrophe. Where is Elliott? I check the time. 5:32.

My mom catches me. “He’s probably late. Guys are late all the time. Advice? If he’s more than 15 minutes late, dump him now.”

I bury my face in my hands. She’s wrong. This isn’t a date. It can’t be.

A few minutes later, he drives up next to us in a beat-up car.

“He’s cute,” she says.

My stomach turns inside out. Why is she doing this to me? I need to escape. “I’ll give you a call when I need picked up,” I blurt out before dashing out of the car.

Her face lights up in a smile and I feel like I’m marching toward my doom. She’s exaggerating about his intentions. She must be. My body jerks when a hand taps me on the shoulder.

“Hey Rose,” Elliott says as I turn around.

He’s completely changed outfits. A bright green top and chocolate fedora has replaced his sloppy outfit from before. I realize, even more than the day I first met him, that he’s quite attractive. And here I am, in a thrown-together outfit suitable for midnight shopping at a convenience store. My pants are still muddy from the stroll I took in Fowler’s Grove to calm down. I can’t imagine he’s impressed, but he keeps smiling. Maybe he’s embarrassed for me. He opens the door like a gentleman and gestures me inside.

Crap, this is a date.

Mom did this to me. Somehow, she makes what she says come true. Especially when I’m arguing with her.

My mind swirls. I have no idea of the ground rules. Is he going to pay? What is a reasonable amount for a first date? If I get a chocolate milkshake, will he think I’m a pig?

“Rose. You ok?” he asks.

I nod. “Let’s go in.”

We enter the restaurant and my usual waiter greets us. He gives me a wink and my palms drip with sweat. The eyes of everyone in the restaurant fixate on us. At least, I’m pretty sure they do, as I don’t dare look back. One should have time to prepare for a first date, not have it sprung on them like—-

“Let me pull the chair out for you,” Elliott says. Only there’s no chair.

I’ve never heard my voice so timid. “Ummm—it’s a booth.”

The waiter snickers. Elliott turns pink. I feel bad for making him embarrassed, but I’m glad I’m not the only one that’s uncomfortable. For the next few minutes, we sit at the booth silently. I fidget with the straw in my water glass, clunking the ice around.

He looks around the restaurant. “I can see why you like this place. Something homey about it.”

I nod, grabbing a napkin off the table to wipe the sweat off my hands. For the eighth time.

“You sure you’re ok?” he says. “You’ve been very quiet.”

My eyes stay focused on the ice cubes in my glass. “Elliott I-I, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you thought this was a date. I would have dressed better.”

“What?” He seems shocked.

I muscle up the nerve to glance up at him. “I mean, you look so nice and I—well—it’s fine, now that, I mean you thought it was a date, right?”

He glances up at the ceiling. “Me? I-I needed to get out of those clothes. Been in them for a few days.”

Great. Now I’m the fool. Can’t believe I listened to my mother. “So you didn’t think it was a date?”

“Did you?” he asks.

“No, I-I just wanted to hang out.”

His voice hesitates. “Me too.”

“That’s a relief,” I say. Crisis averted. This is not a date. Just my mom putting ideas in my head again.

The waiter returns with a couple of daisies. I think he picked them up from the planter in front of the restaurant. “I think some flowers would liven this table up. Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl, don’t you agree?” He turns towards Elliott.

“Yeah—um—yes,” he stumbles.

I smile the best you can after receiving a compliment coerced out of someone. The waiter doesn’t seem impressed. He leans down and whispers something in Elliott’s ear.

“The flowers don’t do you justice,” Elliott says. His face has a pained expression, as if he stepped on a nail.

Maybe if I play this up, the waiter will stop making this awkward. I pick the daisies up and hold them against my nose. They smell of gas fumes. Yep, they’re from outside. I pretend they are the lilies that grow next to the pond by my house and make a pleasant sigh, trying to sound as flattered as possible. It works. The waiter receives our order and is gone.

An impish grin appears on Elliott’s face. Glad one of us is having fun.

“This is discrimination!” says an obnoxious voice behind me.

Four Fliers stand at the door. The first girl is from my Phys Ed class. She used to pommel me with dodgeballs until she received a permanent ban for giving a student welts. Behind her stand a couple of buff guys with the typical athletic bodies you would expect from a Flier. In the rear is Zach, flapping his wings like they’re new toys.

“I’m sorry, but we need you to be vested. It offends the customers,” says our waiter, standing at the entrance podium.

The girl cackles. “Jealous, aren’t they? Wanna spoil our fun.”

Zach stops twirling his wings and folds them up. “Tessla, let’s go somewhere else.”

“You have no sense of humor, Zach,” she snarls.

The waiter continues in a calm voice, “We don’t have room. This place wasn’t designed for mu—I mean, Elevated.”

Tessla’s face transforms into a twisted grin. “You can go ahead and say it. ‘Mutant.’ You know you want to.”

The waiter fumes for a moment. He speaks through gritted teeth. “I am happy to serve you. But keep your wings closed.”

“Fine, whatever,” she says and instructs the other Fliers to close their wings and button their wingvests.

“Jerks,” I say. “Most buildings don’t allow Fliers to roam unvested. They’d be knocking over everything.”

“They want to make trouble,” Elliott says. “After so much time above it all, you start to think you are too.”

“Not a fan of Fliers I take it?”

“And you are?”

I go back to clinking cubes of ice.

“Figures, most girls are.”

Tessla leads the Fliers over to their table, which unfortunately is right behind me. We have to endure them as they harass our poor waiter with dumb comments and take an eternity to order. I try to distract myself by slurping down my chocolate shake. Apparently, my love of chocolate outweighs my fear of looking like a pig.

Zach sits there, sipping his soda. He tries to start some conversations, but they ignore him. He needs to find some new friends.

“Are you alright?” Elliott asks.

His words shock me back to attention. I’m scanning again. Even though Zach is behind me, I see the shadowy figure of him. It’s much clearer than the image of Mr. Roberts. This shadow has shades and textures, although it’s still in black and white. Some parts more transparent than others. Material density maybe? As I focus, the image gets increasingly crisper until I can make out most details, down to the metal buttons and zipper on his jeans. I keep stretching my arms outwards and fake yawns.

“Long day?” Elliott asks.