The Gifted [INDEFINITE HIATUS]

9 • Elayne

If you're one of my older readers (as in, you have read up to chapter 22)--sorry, this is not a new update, but PLEASE DO READ THIS A/N.

In case you didn't know, I have unpublished most chapters and will be republishing them with MAJOR EDITS/REWRITING. I may write brand new chapters in the middle, in which case I will notify you guys so that you can read only those parts.

(Speaking of which, I have made major changes to this chapter. The plot is ever-so-slightly different because of a minor change at the very end. Just so you know.)

Keep in mind that the plot will most likely change a little. When I remove the {Editing/Rewriting} header in the title of the book, you'll know that I'm all caught up to where I was before.

Thanks!

***

Nothing happens until Friday.

I spend the week completely paranoid, terrified that any move I make could set the nearest object on fire. Every spark of light in my peripheral vision makes me almost jump out of my skin. When Mom comes into my bedroom late Tuesday night, after I have gotten in bed, and plugs back in the nightlight that I had yanked out of the socket the evening before, the sudden appearance of the soft, yellow glow in the previously pitch black room almost makes me scream out loud. As it is, I kick off my covers and scramble backwards so fast, I hit my head against the wall beside my bed hard enough to make my vision go blurry for a moment.

Mom seems highly concerned about my mental state after that. Especially the next morning, when the brief glimpse of blue flames leaping up as Dad turns on the stove is enough to make me shriek a little and bang my knee on the underside of the dining table as I scoot my chair away.

It's like she thinks I'm going crazy. And I'm not entirely sure she's wrong.

The only normal thing in my daily routine is waking up before dawn so that I can make a wish on the rising sun. It's ironic how a literal giant ball of flame is what I'm relying on to keep me from going insane, when it's fire itself that's causing my problems.

It doesn't help that it appears as though Sadia is starting to suspect something. She invites me to sit with her and Medha at lunch every single day that week, which is something that's never happened before, considering that the two of them are joined at the hip and generally spend time with just each other. The few times they have asked me to sit with them this year, we were never able to talk for very long before silence fell, but now, Sadia keeps roping me back into the conversation every time I awkwardly try to extricate myself. And although she never outright mentions the Examination, she makes so many casual references to it, I can't tell if I'm just being paranoid and imagining things or if she's trying to confirm her suspicions about something.

Friday during lunch, I am again sitting beside Sadia, picking at my pasta as she cheerfully makes small talk. Medha sits across from us, her lunch practically forgotten as she focuses her attention on the book open beside her. It's been like this all week--me eating silently until I am asked a question, Sadia trying and failing to pick up the mostly one-sided conversation, and Medha reading a book, looking up every once in a while to interject something. It's beyond awkward.

"--plan on studying biology or chemistry," Sadia is saying. "I really want to get into one of those high-end math and science schools in the inner Sectors. There's one in the 2nd Sector I looked up that seemed really great..."

She trails off, as expecting me to say something. I just shove another forkful of pasta into my mouth.

"Medha and I are hoping we get into the same school so that we can be roommates," she adds. "But that's highly unlikely, because we would have to get pretty similar scores."