Gifted

Chapter Two

I walk slowly through the forest and up to the river bank. I bend down, steadying myself with one hand. I reach out to the water, but before my hand touches the clear liquid, a strong familiar force jerks me down onto my back. I wince at the pain from the rocks hitting me.

"Sorry, but I can't count how many times I've told you to not touch the water. Do you never learn?" Alex says.

I don't acknowledge him. I just stand, dust myself off, and begin walking back to the castle. Alex grabs my arm and pulls me into him. We've never stood this close to one another. My cheeks begin to burn, and my hands begin to glow light red. I attempt to pull away, but Alex doesn't loosen his grip.

"Did someone say something?" He asks like he has been for the past three weeks as I've been trying to touch the water again.

"No, so you can let go of me," I say avoiding eye contact. My hands start to return to normal. "Please know that you can tell me anything, Rosie," he says. I turn my head to him, wanting to ask him why the water hurts so bad, and why the...normal people hate us so much. Instead, I tell him, "Nothing's wrong, so you can let go of me now." He releases me from his grasp, but I feel as though I can't move. "Alex, let go of me," I tell him, hoping he'll release his gifted grasp on me too.

"I'm not doing anything, Rosie," he says, holding up his hands in surrender. I attempt to move, but the only step I can take is towards the river. "Rosie, you're smarter than this. You could wait till I'm gone at least!" He says, then takes my arm and pulls me back to him.

My body is pulled toward the water again. "Rosie, seriously, stop going to the river!" He says then pulls me again. "Alex, I'm not doing anything. I can't control my body! Help, me, please!" I plead, completely oblivious as to why I'm being pulled to something that can kill me.

The force pulling me to the river grows stronger, and Alex has to use his movement gift to pull me away from the water. "Rosie, have your gifts been controllable at all yet?" He asks through a strained voice. Most of my gifts are only semi-controllable, but my movement gift is completely uncontrollable. "Not really..." I say, grabbing onto Alex's forearms as my body is jerked backward.

"Okay, I need you to-" he stops talking, his sight caught on something in the distance. "Rosie," he says, staring into my eyes. "Fight. Fight as hard and as long as you can. We need to get you away from the river!" Alex orders, and I nod. I don't care what Alex sees, if he's worried, I'm worried.

I push through the torturous pain pulling me to the water. Alex strains to pull me away, and I attempt my best to push my body from the river. After much exhaustion and fighting, we make it to the end of the bridge. Alex looks absolutely exhausted. "Come, we must get you inside to safety," I say, knowing his life is worth more than mine.

He looks at me as if I'm crazy. "Get me to safety?! You were almost just dragged to your death!" Alex says through heavy breaths. I take a deep breath and exhale then say, "Yes, but your life is far more important than mine." Alex glances back at whatever was pulling me to the river. "I would gladly give my life for yours," he says. I know this, and I would do the same, but Alex matters here to more people than just one. "Then let me risk mine for yours," I tell him, to which I can tell he wants to argue against.

"No time to argue unless you want both of us dead," I tell him, and reason returns to his mind. I force myself to pull more of Alex's weight than I can carry, so we can make it to the castle. When we get inside, I find a maid and tell her to take Alex to his room. He begins to say something, but i refuse to let him waste any more energy on arguing. "Immediately, please," I interrupt Alex's unspoken rebuttal. The maid nods and takes Alex away.

I make my way slowly to my room, exhaustion settling into my body with every step I take. When I get inside my room, I immediately crawl into my bed and fall fast asleep.