The Extraordinaries

Chapter Eleven: Elise

The river is raging. I hear it before I see it: a calm crashing that makes me feel cold water rippling against my skin. Last time I came hear, I was with Delaney and Nicole, and we were giggling so much that we couldn't hear the beautiful sounds all around us. I pause for a moment, letting Annie slip ahead through the trees, inhaling everything around me. There's so much leftover energy, bouncing along through the air. Up above, a single crow chirps, and I feel it tingle along my spine, the haunting of his call. And that's when I feel whole, as if here at the river I am not alone.

I don't know what it is about beautiful scenery that stores the energy instead of casting it away like the rest of the world, but somehow I can feel the energy of so many people. Some of it is blank, barely there, sizzling softly. But some of it belongs to other girls from the studio, and when I close my eyes I can almost hear their voices, encircling me, calling out my name like a chant.

Priss.

Delaney.

Nicole.

Erica.

It's as if my heart is being squeezed from me.

When I open my eyes, Annie is staring at me. She's halfway through the trees, her face dimmed by the branches overhead. Still, she's breathtaking. Her hair lifts in the wind, like flecks of fire swimming through air.

"You feel them," she says, voice blank. "Can't you? The other girls."

I nod, my stomach clenching like I'm going to cry. "They're so alive, down here. All of them." In fact, it's strange that I can't see them next to me. It feels like I could take a few steps and find them waiting just beyond the trees, all holding hands and laughing, faces bright with exhilaration. "I miss them," I say.

Annie moves back to me, and I'm surprised for a moment. It makes my heart lift to see her move willingly in my direction, as if maybe she doesn't despise me quite so much anymore. As if she knows we'll need to work together now.

"Why do you think it was us who survived?" she whispers. I barely hear her through the wind that whips my face, bitter on my cheeks, and it takes a moment for her words to register.

"I don't literally mean why," she adds, giving me a look. "We both know why we weren't in there when it happened. But... why? Why us?"

I never thought about it like that before. Like fate. Like we were the chosen ones.

I remember that night as if it were yesterday. I had a night terror and woke up sobbing. Annie, who slept next to me, woke up and went outside with me. We walked into the woods and laid of the forest floor for hours, tangled against each other for warmth, my tears dampening her hair. By the time we smelled the smoke, I had long-forgotten the dream and was too caught up in Annie: her laugh, her voice, the way her eyes glinted even in the pitch black night.

"I don't know," I say softly. "I certainly didn't deserve it."

She doesn't say anything for a moment, and I wonder if she agrees. Maybe she would be happier if it were Delaney, or Marielle, or someone else. Someone who doesn't dream about her at night. Someone who doesn't love her more than the stars in the sky and the earth beneath our feet. Someone who doesn't scream and cry in the night like a child.

"I'm sorry," I say finally. "It shouldn't have been me. It should have been someone else."

"That's not what I meant, Elise," she snaps, and then, "Come on. You wanted to go to the river, didn't you?"

I duck my head in humiliation as I follow her through the bracket of trees, ignoring the way I have to bend around the branches to avoid being poked in the ribs. Annie does it effortlessly, gliding through like a bird. She doesn't wait for me on the other side, just takes off her boots and walks to the edge. The grass beneath her feet is nearly white, withering from the cold. It's nearly December, I realize. It'll be Christmastime soon.