From the moment I met them, I knew that they were different, special even. But I didn’t know how special until now. Now, as I conceal myself behind shrubs in fear he’ll notice me. Now, as I watch Lucas, one of the special ones, fight for his life against something I can barely see. Now, I realize that Lucas, Adrian, Ashlyn, Kenneth, Silvia, and Anila are far from human.
When I first saw what Lucas was doing, it didn’t seem like he was fighting anything, but when I crept closer, I could make out the force that was trying to kill him. Imagine the space above a road on a hot summer day. You can see the heat radiating off of the pavement, but you can see through it, too. That’s what the ‘thing’ looked like. Anyone could see that Lucas was struggling. His usually in control blue eyes were filled with fear, his blond hair in a huge mess, his clothes ripped and torn. There was a cut on his check, and a long gash on his leg from which blood ran. And he was barefoot. Now in the middle of a twenty-acre forest, not having shoes was a little more than strange.
The shoes and the blood and the killer force weren’t what astounded me the most, it was what Lucas was doing. His hand seemed to be controlling the light around him and aiming it at the force. I watched in amazement as Lucas shined his light at incoming forces, which dissipated instantly as the light touched them. His hands were in constant motion, moving the light to match the speed of the force. Of course, at that speed it is easy to miss something.
Lucas was so focused at what was going on around him; he didn’t see what was right in front of him. “Lucas, look out!” I screamed.
For the first time he noticed I was there. “Aisha, get out of here!’ he yelled. I watched in horror as the wave ball hit Lucas at full force. He flew back five feet from the impact and landed with a thud. I ran to his side and knelt next to him. His eyes opened and look straight into mine, begging me to leave him to die, begging me to save myself. He didn’t need words to explain it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another force coming. Automatically, my hand lashed out, throwing a shining ball that hit the force, making it dissolve. I stared at my hand in amazement, a thousand questions filling my head. How did I do that? Have I always been able to do it? Can my parents do it too, or just me? Can I save Lucas with it? Another force came, aimed at me. Quick as lightning, I jumped up, spun around, and threw a shining ball of my own at it. I had never been good at sports; I had terrible aim and couldn’t run that fast, but right now I was in super speed mode defending Lucas and myself from the wavy balls of terror. I never missed, I couldn’t afford to. Our lives depended on it.
Suddenly, I felt a wave of pain in my leg; I knew that the force managed to hit me. My leg gave out and the next thing I knew I was laying on the ground, waiting for the next hit. Just as another ball came at me an arrow flew out of the trees hitting the ball of force, dissolving it and saving me. I looked in the direction of the arrow and saw Silvia shoot another at the force. Besides the bow and quiver of arrows she carried, Silvia looked had on regular clothes, but was barefoot as well.
I don’t know how I knew this, but the force seemed to hesitate now that Silvia was here. In that moment of pause, my rescuer shot over a dozen arrows at where all of the balls must have came from. I could almost feel it as what ever it was slink away from the battle sight in defeat.