The Half-Giant's Guide to Seeing the Future

The Day I Rode in a Helicopter

After I spent another minute gaping, my eye did not change back to normal. If I hadn't already crashed an elevator, been rescued by a stranger, and watched my father point a gun today, I probably would have spent longer staring.

Instead, I finished packing my bag under the watchful eye of Moreno and walked into the family room where my half-brothers were throwing a big neon green ball back and forth while Jilly filed her nails. Everyone was still in their school uniforms, even though they should have left for school a quarter of an hour ago.

The boys paused as Moreno walked in behind me. Geoff's eyes filled with immediate awe and envy at the tall and built guy. Nath just threw the ball at Moreno, and he caught it with ease.

"Woah, Terri, did you get a boyfriend?" Geoff asked. "He's almost as tall as you."

My face flushed. Moreno just chuckled, and I could see his chest shaking slightly. That made me blush harder.

"Geoffrey Oakeley," Jilly snapped. "Apologize."

"No," Nath said. "This isn't her boyfriend. He's one of them."

I looked over my brother. He was eleven years old and eleven months older than Geoff. Nath was generally more calculating than his brother, but he looked at Moreno as if he knew exactly why he was there.

"Nath," I frowned. "Explain, please."

Nath ran a hand through his black hair. "Not sure I should. Dad said not to talk about this."

"Talk about what?" Geoff poked his brother.

"Ask Dad," Nath said.

"But you tell me everything, Nath," Geoff said.

Nath sighed. "Not everything. Not this. And you should be asking why Terri's only wearing one contact lens."

My face heated more as Geoff and Jilly looked at my face. Geoff's face devolved into confusion while Jilly's face turned pale, and her eyes narrowed.

"That's not a contact lens," JIlly said something else that probably would have Elise taking her phone later. "When did this happen? What did you see?"

"Why does everyone keep asking that?" I threw my hands in the air.

"She doesn't know, does she?" Moreno looked horrified. "How much does she not know?"

JIlly sucked in her lower lip. "I don't know much. Just that if this ever happened, I needed to tell our parents and record whatever vision she had in great detail."

I stared at my stepsister like she'd grown a second head. "Vision? What did my dad and Elise tell you?"

"Not..." Jilly shifted from foot to foot. "They said to tell them if I saw anyone or anything funny. Chuck had one request that I kept an eye on you. He said that your mother had a genetic condition that started in her eyes. He wanted to know if your eyes ever changed, and I needed to ask you what you saw."

Jilly and I had been through a lot together. She'd always stood up for me against bullies. We'd even worked together to convince our parents to let me be homeschooled online. Once, she'd even attacked a man who tried to grab me in a supermarket.

She was one of my closest friends, and I trusted Jilly with my life. However, if she'd been spying on me... why had our parents asked her to do something like that?

"She doesn't know who or what she is," Nath said. "Dad said it was to protect her. He said there were bad people after Terri."

I frowned. "What people?"

"What did you see?" Jilly asked.

"Why is that so important?" I was getting tired of everyone asking. "All I saw was some kids playing hide and seek with their uncle."