Gifted, a Novel

Chapter One

St. Michaels Academy for Academically Advanced Children is, let's just say, less than normal. While the children who go here are geniuses, we also have a job. Protect the Powers. That's our mission. We were to do anything to protect the Powers. Unless you were suspended, then our job was to do our schoolwork. So that's what I was doing.

"Jae, name the three rarest Powers." My teacher does this sometimes, test us if she thinks we're not paying attention.

"Healer, Thief, and Strength."

"Explain them."

"A Healer is quite self-explanatory, but they can't heal death. Unless, they are one of the Gifted. But we have only seen two of those in the past century, Sam White and Octavian Cole." She looked less than impressed. "A thief, is most commonly gifted with heightened senses. scent, hearing and taste. The only two documented right now are Luke Jameson, of the Jameson Team, and myself." I didn't add that I was on the Jameson Team. Half of the people in this class are only a level Two clearance, and our team, aside from Luke and Kyle, is anonymous. They're still on need-to-know. "Strength is also very self-explanatory, but even more rare than Gifted Healers. There is only one documented, Kyle Black. Any other questions?"

"No," she said, "thank you. Class dismissed. Jae, my office, now."

I studied her office, waiting. I couldn't be in even more trouble. Could I? No, I've been good.

"Jae, the Board has contacted me. Your Team is suspended? Yes? Okay. Well, you have an assignment. It's dangerous, and not all of you will come back alive. It's not optional. You leave tonight, and you're excused from the rest of your classes. All of your debt will be paid off, and your charges dropped. Meet with your Team Leader. Good luck." And then she left.

Pulling out my cellphone, I started a group chat:

Jae: we have a mission. Team meeting in my dorm in thirty minutes.

Luke: Sis, we're suspended. No missions.

Kyle: Luke, listen to your sister. Jae, we'll talk in your dorm.

Dakota: what's going on?

Natalie: Why do we have a mission?

Gabii: Jae?

Victor: I have a lecture to go to. This better not be a joke, Jae.

Sam: I'm at your dorm already, I've been here since 7 this morning.

Octavian: I'm with Sam.

Sage: almost there.

Jae: you now have fifteen minutes

Driving to my dorm, I was worried. 'not everyone will come back alive.' The words replayed over and over in my mind. Was I willing to risk my Team, my family, for the Organization? Yes, because we knew what we were signing up for. All of us took the pledge, "we will stand with the Organization. We will protect the Powers with our life. We will do the good that the Government will not. Protect the Powers"

When I reached the building the first thing I noticed was Sam's tall, muscular form and short white-blonde hair. I got out of the car and hugged him, earning a kiss on the top of my head. Next, I noticed Octavian. Short, brown hair, six feet tall. His glasses, which he didn't need, were perched precariously on his nose.

"Miss Jae." He said as way of introduction.

"Octavian." I replied. He has always been formal, since I had met him, when we were both eight, we are all now fifteen.

Next I turned to Sagittarius. He hates his name, so we all call him Sage. I jumped up and ruffled his hair and then hugged him. His dark eyes sparkled strangely.

All of us came from pretty messed up families, but Octavian's was one of the worst, with the exception of Dakota. The Organization found me, and I found my team. I was taken from my home when I was seven, my mom was neglectful and on drugs. Compared to most of my family, I had it easy.

First I met Octavian and Sam, they were inseparable. Octavian's dad beat up his mom and his sister a lot, until he started jumping in. He ended up getting beaten so badly once, he had to be snuck to the hospital by his mom and sister. I was there for a checkup, when I saw him. He refused to talk to anyone, except to request to speak to Sam. When Sam arrived, covered in bruises and limping, I knew the truth.

It took about two hours, and both of them were out of their respective houses, without a fight. We quickly formed a team, and Sam is now studying to be an abuse therapist.

Dakota was more difficult. He also had a mom and sister, but his dad didn't touch them, so long as Dakota quietly took whatever punishment his father thought of. We pulled him out when his shirt slipped up in gym class and the teacher saw the scars. She was an Organization member and called my Team. We had to go through the system to make sure his Father didn't hurt his mother and sister. That's how we found Natalie.

When Dakota realized what we could do to help children, he told us about Nat. Her mom wasn't home much, but when she was, she was usually drunk. She would beat her badly, then make a mess and make Nat clean it up.

Victor, Luke, and Gabii are the "three amigos", as we like to call them, Vic and Gabii's parents were really bad off. Struggling with addiction. When we found them Victor was struggling with self-harm. We found them just in time, he later admitted to me. He was ready to end it. He's been clean for five years.

Gabii was also struggling. She has been battling bulimia, and anorexia since the age of eight, she has trouble staying clean. Although the Organization offers counseling, she doesn't think it will help.

Luke, my brother, had it worse than me. Our mother started punishing him after I left. It got to the point where he is deaf in one ear, from one of her punishments. she blamed me leaving on him. He helped us find Kyle and Sag.

Kyle and Sage were in San Francisco when we got wind of them. The had been on the road for a few years, and they were ten before they trusted us enough to go with us, back to Tahoe.

"Jae, you okay? You left us there for a second." Sam questioned. He was always so worried about us. He held us together when our team was on the verge of falling apart. That didn't happen often, but when it did, it was serious.

"Yeah, Sam, I'm fine. Thinking about the mission."

The sound of cars made us turn. Victor and Gabii could be seen in the first car, Gabii's truck. After that was Kyle's Motorcycle, with Luke in the side car. Now we just needed Nat and Dakota. The sound of Dakota's crappy Civic alerted us of their arrival.

Once everyone had said their hello's and gotten settled inside, we started our family meeting. "The Board has given us a mission. We are, according to the file, supposed to rescue some Powers. There are seven of them. They are struggling. They are scared. They are alone. They are like us."

"We need to be careful. I fully intend on coming back with our whole team alive. They don't think we will. Also, we are flying to Georgia. Our flight leaves in five hours. Pack light, we will be staying on the street. Meet at LAX in in 4 and a half." Everyone made their way towards the door, and I stopped them with a whistle. "And guy's. Just remember, I love you all. You are my family."

I was surprised when Octavian rushed forward and grabbed me around the middle. "Thank you," he whispered, "for saving me, all of us." At this point we were surrounded by our family in a group hug. The sounds of 'I love you's' echoed through my living room. There were tears in my eyes when we finally separated.

"Go, pack, meet back here if you finish early." When they were all gone, I broke down. I usually let them read the files, but I didn't. there was no way we were all coming back alive. It was impossible. One of us had to die. It would be me.