Gift Academy (Book One in the Gifted Series)

Chapter Eighteen

Fay

My sister is AWESOME!

She sends wave after wave of deadly water towards Ethan, who blows them all away.

"Fay! Get Jake and Wesley!" She shouts to me, low enough so that Ethan doesn't hear. I nod my head at her and Claire and Hailey join in with Flora. Claire sends a small earthquake right under Ethan, making him quickly lose balance. Hailey creates a storm of darkness around him, limiting his vision. Knowing he can't see, Ethan just creates a barrier of wind around him, so he doesn't get hit by anything, like Floras water. I sneak around him towards Jake and Wesley, who are still unconscious, but seem to be waking up by all the noise. It sounds like chaos upstairs.

There are sounds of bangs, screaming, and all elements being used all at the same time. I somehow ignore all that and start to untie Jake. I stop when I hear Ethan give out a loud shout of frustration, and I'm almost knocked off my feet from the powerful blast of strong wind that emits from Ethan's hands. Flora, Hailey, and Claire go crashing into the wall on the other side of the room and slump to the ground, groaning in pain. I look up at Ethan and continue to untie Jake, but the knots are so small and tight. Ethan is good at tying, I'll give him that.

I'm too late. Ethan spots me from the corner of his eye and glares at me. He picks me up with his wind gift and throws me into the kitchen of the cafeteria, where I crash into shelves of food and slam against the floor.

I groan in pain and shakily get to my feet. I look around and all the shelves I crashes into have fallen to the ground, their contents spilled all over the ground. I head back to the cafeteria and watch as Ethan looms over my twin sister and two best friends. I feel anger building up inside of me as I see Ethan pull out some more rope.

I thrust my hands out towards Ethan and a bunch of thick green vines hurl his way. It doesn't make any noise, so he doesn't expect it when he's suddenly tied up by vines and being lifted into the air. He thrashes wildly, but that just makes me squeeze him tighter. I pour out some of my rage into this one attack, and before I know it, I have one simple vine wrapped around Ethan's' throat, choking him. He makes horrible choking sounds as I squeeze his throat harder and harder by each passing second. His futile attempts to escape are quickly dying down, and he's slowly losing consciousness. Just as it seems like he's about to be knocked out, I feel a powerful wave of water crash into me and send me flying into one of the tables.

Flora? I think. What is she doing? No, it can't be Flora. She wouldn't do something like this. But I didn't hear the doors open. Maybe she just missed Ethan.

I'm wrong about all of those. As my blurry eyesight clears, I see a short girl with straight, silky black hair leaning over a breathless Ethan, who's on his knees, trying to get some air. The new girl turns to me and glares at me hatefully. She holds up one of her hands and summons a fairly big ball of water.

"I'm guessing you're against me, then," I tell her, then jump to my feet and throw a vine her way. She dodges it and throws the ball of water towards me, but she misses by at least five feet. I don't blame her. This teenage girl looks about ten years old.

I'm about to hit her with another vine when an ice-cold water ball crashes into me from behind.

That sneaky girl.

I fall to the ground as the water shape-shifts into a tight water whip wrapping around my legs and tripping me. I slam my forehead into a chair in front of me and black dots dance around my vision. I feel about ready to pass out until I realize that Flora, Hailey, Claire, Jake, and Wesley still need my help. I look up at the Extra and think, two can play this game. I quickly slide my hand upwards and a green vine once again wraps around the Extras' throat, choking her. I lift her into the air and slam her back into the wall behind her repeatedly until her water whip finally let's go of me. I free myself from its grip and look back at Ethan, who's still on his knees, but he's getting up. I wrap another vine around his ankles and dangle him upside down in midair. Usually, I'm fairly nice to people, and I don't want to hurt anyone. But this is war, and people are going to die. People are going to get hurt, and I know that some of that pain has to come from me, or I'm not doing anything to help.

Making up my decision as to what I should do to Ethan, I raise him at least feet more feet into the air, his shoes skimming the ceiling. This is going to hurt him a lot, but what else can I do?

I let go of his ankles, and Ethan drops fifteen feet from the air and lands flat on his head onto the cold hard ground. I hear a horrible, deafening CRACK, coming straight from Ethans' skull. I know I'm going to regret doing this later, but for now, I don't care. I see a waterfall of dark red blood quickly streaming from Ethans' head. At first, I don't know if he's dead, but by the way he's uncomfortably lying on the ground, all that blood spilling from him- I'm positive he's gone.

I'm about to turn back to the other Extra to finish her off when I feel a burning pain in my hand. I yelp in pain and surprise, and when I look up, the vine I used to choke the other Extra is in flames. That's her other gift; fire. I look back up at her, and I automatically feel bad for hurting her, and wanting to. She looks so young, like she's eleven years old, not a teenager. She has big, coal black eyes that make her look even younger.

"Listen, I don't want to hurt you," I tell her, holding my hands out to her. She sneers at me.

"Yeah, that's what I heard you tell Ethan before you murdered him without getting any of his blood on your hands," she taunts me. I feel a pang of guilt in my stomach, like someone just hit me with a hammer.

"My name is Fay Landoff. And I know you don't want to fight this war. Come join us. We'll protect you, I promise. You can run off and hide somewhere far from here. I know a safe place where you can stay," I try to reason with her, but it doesn't seem like she's buying it.

"I don't need protecting! Screw you, you filthy Gifted!" She shouts at me. A huge ball of flame erupts in her hand. She's about to hurl it at me with lightning speed, but we both hear the groans of someone waking up. I look around and see Hailey waking up. I look back at the Extra, who's flames have slightly died down, though they still dance dangerously in her hand and flash in her dark eyes. She looks scared. She knows that if she stays here any longer, she's definitely going to die. Her flames die down completely, but she continues to glare at me as she heads towards the doors to the hallway outside of the cafeteria.

"My name is Mariah Smith. Don't forget my name, cause it's coming back to haunt you and drag you straight to hell!" She shouts at me before sprinting out the doors to who-knows where. I don't stop her. Hopefully she escapes his horrifying war and finds somewhere safe to stay.

Mariah Smith. I won't forget that name.