I walk down the hallway, amazed at how differently I see things now. Sharp, clear, detailed. I see through the lies, through the masks, through the paint teenagers use to hide the real them.

I smile and shake my head. Teenagers? Did I already forget I’m one of them?

So much as happened this past summer. Four of my closet friends and I finally shared our secret “gifts” with each other, and for once in the past four years, I didn’t feel alone. I know, I know, I’m saying I have friends, and that I was alone. Contradictory right? Not really. I didn’t know enough about my gift to share. I was also convinced I would be seen as crazy, or the opposite extreme. That a scientist would cut me to bits and put those bits under a microscope…

So you can see why I never told. But more than that just happened.

Kenton, Brayden Solila, and I, Desiree, all are “gifted” as they call it. Kenton can read thoughts, memories, and put thoughts in your head. Heck yeah, it’s creepy! But, you soon learn that when Kenton puts thoughts into your head, they carry a sort of “mark”. I’ve never failed a test so far this year.

Solila, she…well, can move things, she wants her ipod, but darn it! She’s at school and it’s at home. She pictures where it currently is, and then that it’s in her pocket. Solila reaches her hand in and its there. We always did April fools day on the first of every other month. I found a frog in my shoe.

Brayden’s gift is a bit different than Kenton’s or Solila’s. He has power over animals and the earth. Communicate, things grow, it’s really neat.

Mine? Fire. And peoples emotions. Its kinda like Kenton’s. I can read them, track them, even sometimes find out the cause. And I can change them. Fire is a bit tricky. I first found out I had it when I was so mad at my math test it sort of “spontaneously combusted” and scared the s&^$ outta me.

More importantly, however, we are all absorbers. I originally had the gift of absorbing powers, but through an old spell book I found, we did a ritual to share our powers. we made two small cuts on our ankle, and took a dab of blood out of each, and put it on the other cut of every other person. So not only do we share powers, but “no force of darkness” can ever cause us to turn against each other, EVER.

And just when we had finished this “ritual”, the watchers came. Apparently, they oversee any gifted, magic people or beings that reside in this realm. Scared the crap outta us. They can over ride any power, but I got the quick emotion of…fear. They, the overseers of all things extraordinary, were afraid of US.

Ever since them, the weird feeling of power has been going through me, and Kenton “told” me we all felt the same things. Any other being we come in contact with, we absorb a bit of their gift, and train on it, until it too is second nature. It isn’t as strong as our natural gift, but it is useful.

We will join the good side. I hope. But as soon as our presence is known among the Others, they will come after us. And since we can never turn against each other, the choice of one must be the choice of all.