A Winner of the Pearson Prize for Fiction, 2010! Benjamina James was like any other fifteen-year-old until one day a bolt of blue lightning struck her on the soccer field. She soon finds she has strange abilities including shooting fire and lightnin...
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Bennie awoke, her eyes still covered by complete blackness. It took her a moment to remember what had happened.
She fleetingly thought maybe this was all she would ever see again, all because she had looked at that stupid--stupid--
Panic jerked her out of her reverie. She had to get her eyesight back. She would get it back. She couldn't do this, going on without it, and how would she explain her sudden blindness to her friends, or worse, her mom?
She'll lock me away and never let me see Perce or any other Guardian again. I'll never get a chance to figure out what this is all about.
Bennie shuddered. She could hardly think about thinking about it, having these abilities and never knowing what they truly were, and never being able to see again, for that matter. That on top of the fact that she had killed the thing that had caused all this only made her feel worse, but why she did not know. After all, it deserved it, and she was only protecting herself.
Never mind, she thought. You don't like killing, and you'll just have to live with the fact that you did.
Bennie's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening.
"Who's there?" She spun toward the sound and lifted her hand. A little zap would take care of any enemy, that was for sure.
"Bennie, it's me, and put your hand down!" Sean spoke softly and nervously, "I heard what happened, and I came to see you before Aila arrives."
"Who's Aila?" Bennie asked.
"Aila's a Healer," Sean said, "And a good friend of Perce's; she took care of you last night and she'll take care of you better than anyone."
"What is she going to try?" Bennie said.
"I'm not sure," Sean said. "But with her it'll work, one way or the other."
"Hmm," Bennie said, hoping he was right. Then she realized Perce had never told her where she was, or how long she'd been there, since it had still been the same night when Perce had spoken to her.
Mom will absolutely kill me if she finds I'm gone.
"Sean, where the hell are we anyway? Perce didn't say. I think I upset him earlier."
"No, he's not upset because of anything you said, he's upset about what happened," Sean said, "Says it's his fault you're hurt, that as your protector he should have prevented this. He's beating himself up about it right now, saying all he's good at is slowing down time in this room with one of his spells, so you'd get an hour of sleep in five minutes."
"What on earth is he talking about?" Bennie said, too exasperated to be distracted by interesting information about sleeping hours in minutes. "If I remember correctly he was the one who saved me! He showed up just in time. The fact he knew I was looking for him at all amazes me, never mind being there to get me out of trouble. What is he, a telepath?"
