Especially Gifted

**Prologue**

        "Woah, how are you doing that Cassia?" My best friend Jake asked.

        "I don't know. Can't you do it too?" I replied. He looked at me and shook his head. He pointed to the wings coming out of my back. "What about them?"

        "I don't have anything like that." He stared at my wings for a little while as we sat in silence. Jake was my best friend. I thought that I could tell him, and that we could go around flying together. We could stop at candy stores and have fun. But my dreams changed at that moment. My entire life after would be nothing but secrets for a while after.

        "You're like an angel Cassia." Jake paused taking in the appearance of my wings. They were a little small and weren't very powerful, but I was only eight. "Your like my angel...,"he started, but my parents running outside to see me flying above him, made him stop.

        "Cassia, get down here this instant!" My mother called after me. The tone in her voice was shrill and scary. I let myself down and pulled my wings back in. My mother took Jake inside and talked to him while my dad stayed out to talk to me.

        "Cassia, you are a very special little girl. You'll realize that more when your older. And I'm not just saying that because your my little girl." He stopped to rub me on my hair. But then he gave me a serious look. "You can do things that other people can't. And after today, you can't tell anyone else. You'll be lucky if Jake even remembers what happened." he started to trail off talking about stuff I didn't understand. He looked at me and seen the look on my face that was questioning him and that made him refocus himself on our conversation. "Cassia, the things that you can do are a lot different than anyone else. And if you show other people how special you are, they may not be as understanding as Jake was. They may freak out and try to hurt you. So we have to keep this a secret, okay?"

        "Okay daddy." I giggled and gave him a huge bear hug. My mom and Jake came out of the house and she had a look in her eyes that I didn't understand.

        "He promised that he would keep everything he seen here a secret from everyone else. But you can't show anyone else. You and Jake can share the secret and talk about it, but no one else can know. Understand?" She glanced at me and I nodded. Then she turned to Jake who nodded too. And that was that. The memory was all fuzzy after that. I didn't make any new friends in school, nor did I want to. Jake was my best friend. The only one in the world who truly understood me. And I was thankful to have him there.