Ember Gods

Chapter 24

The next couple of weeks were a blur—Jacob diligently took notes, finding patterns. Red was anger—that made sense. The bright purple he'd seen was loathing, or hatred. He was glad it hadn't been directed toward him. Matt's usual color was varying shades of green—happiness. He'd seen a couple of people with the blue/green Amberly had shown when Tito got hurt. That was fear mixed with sadness.

The Makalos were never the strong, bright colors, since they rarely experienced the associated emotions, which were also strong. They were usually closer to pastels and medium-hued colors.

After he found the patterns, Jacob stopped approaching people. At first it was really hard—if there was something he could do to help, he wanted to do it. But he resisted because people were starting to treat him like there was something wrong, or something very special, about him. He couldn't stand either.

Most everyone figured out he could sense other people's emotions, and now girls—why was it always girls?—asked him for help with their relationships. "Is he still mad at me? Does he like me? What's he thinking now?"

The worst was when a girl approached him and asked what she was feeling toward him. He could only walk away, too embarrassed to respond. It had been many different colors—the ones that equaled infatuation.

It didn't matter that he'd stopped asking other students how they felt. Word spread, and he was constantly stopped by new people as he went to and from classes.

The one time when this ability helped Jacob was on the court during lunch. He could always tell when people were distracted by strong emotions—fear, anger, love. He didn't feel bad for zipping past players who weren't really into the game.

Tani and Josh spent a lot of time finding the fastest way from one room to another—sometimes even using the windows. The busier the hallway, the more difficult it was to get through.

Gradually, though, things went back to normal. As normal as possible, of course, since Jacob still had a large group of "fans" showing up for the lunchtime games.

The only breaks he got from all of this were while he was at home with his family, or with the Makalos, who seemed to think everything going on at school was incredibly funny. Sweet Pea, especially. Jacob got the feeling the Makalo was dying to leave Eklaron and go to Mountain Crest to egg the students on.

***

Jacob tossed the ball to Kevin, who threw it in from the three-point line. Those supporting Jacob and Kevin's team cheered. A smattering of boos came from the students for the other team.

He smiled with relief. He always felt his best when playing. Matt rebounded the ball and tossed it to Jacob, who grinned, remembering how everyone had reacted when Matt announced he was going to play. They had no problem with it—they were excited to see how the captain of the football team would do on the court.

Jacob tried to find an open teammate. Things looked blurry—he'd had nightmares about Aloren and hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night. He blinked, trying to get his eyes to focus, and wiped his arm across his face.

The air around him smelled like dirt, and a gentle breeze caressed his face. He jerked his hand away from his eyes. Instead of the orange gym, acres and acres of green grass stretched in all directions around him.

What was going on? Was he dreaming? He looked down—he still held the basketball. The sound of rushing feet returned, and Kevin called to him to toss the ball. Glancing around, relief poured over him when he saw he was back in the gym. He must've been imagining things. He took a deep breath, ran down the court, and put the ball through the hoop.