Gift Academy (Book One in the Gifted Series)

Chapter Thirty Nine

Fay

We run as fast as we can to the basement. We can't let them get the Fate Dagger. That is my dagger, my responsibility. I'm not letting them get ahold of it.

Besides, the guy who helped us in the basement with the Life Dagger let us drive away so he can distract the Extras coming towards us. His exact last words were 'Make sure they don't get the daggers'. I'm not letting him down.

But they also want me. I'm almost positive that they don't already know that I'm the Fate Dagger wielder, but I'm sure they will soon. And when they do, they're going to hunt me down. They want to me help them find the Death Dagger, along with the Life Dagger wielder.

That's not going to happen. I won't let it happen.

"There," I gasp, pointing to the basement door.

The open basement door.

I scowl deeply, and start to make my way to the basement before Nick pulls me back.

"Before you do that, hit a vine at this," Nick lights a huge flame in his hand. I saw what he did back there outside, and it was incredible. I've never seen anything like that. John didn't look very surprised, and I'm certain that he already knows what it is. I'm not surprised. He knows everything.

I create a small green vine and whip it towards Nicks fire, making sure to not hit him. There's a blast of bright yellow, and Nick holds a completely yellow flame in his hand. Gina's about to do the same thing with her wind, but Nick stops her.

"Actually, aim your wind at this one," Nick tells Gina, holding up his yellow flame. Gina raises an eyebrow, and I'm honestly a bit impressed. Nick's not extremley talkative, but when he has an idea, it never goes to waste.

Gina shoots a gust of wind at the yellow flame, and there's one more blast of color- this time a darker shade of yellow- before Nick holds the same color flame in his hand. He grows it to twice its size and splits it, one dark yellow flame in each hand.

"Alright, let's go," Nick says, but before we can walk down the basement steps, a handful of Extras- twelve, and counting- walk up, the leader holding a small glass case, the Fate Dagger lying inside. I look up at the leader and it's none other than the ginger nightmare himself, Mike Taylor.

My anger fuels like mixing gasoline with a wildfire. The Extras stare at us amusingly, and I notice Liam Clarke in the crowd as well, but he looks more uncertain than the rest. I know he doesn't want to fight, and maybe he doesn't have to.

"Gina, round them up," Nick whispers to Gina, his dark yellow flames slowly growing in his hands.

Gina doesn't say anything. She uses her wind Gift to slam them all into the wall. Mike clutches the glass case tightly as he's slammed into the wall with the other Extras. I create three huge, thick vines and wrap them around the Extras. I once again notice Liam in the midst of it, and quickly loosen the vine on him so he's just able to wriggle out. He crawls away from the mass of Extras and Nick looks at me like I'm crazy.

"Why'd you let him go?" Nick asks me as I tighten the vines and add more.

"He's alright," Gina answers for me, and I remember that she had a dream/vision of Emily, Mike, and Liam, too.

Nick shrugs his shoulders, muttering "Alright," before hurling the two dark yellow fireballs at the pack of Extras. Just before the flames hit them, one of the Extras lights my vines on fire and they all break free. Half of them are hit by the huge yellow flames, and they're blasted into the wall behind them with so much force the wall cracks.

As the yellow flames lick their clothes, Nick summons them back to his hand, and they go back to the way they were. Nick smirks up at the other Extras, who all look stunned at his ability.

Mike, unfortunately, is not one of those Extras. He rips open the glass case and reaches in for the Fate Dagger.

I know what's going to happen. It's going to burn him. Badly.

"No, don't!" I shout, but he grabs the hilt and pulls the dagger out.

As soon as he holds it, the smell of burning flesh burns into my nose. Mike screams in pain as smoke curls from his palm. He drops the Fate Dagger on the floor, where it pulses with bronze light, the emerald in the hilt beaming green. The bronze and green light seem to join together and aim directly towards me. I don't stop it.

When the light hits me, my vision turns blurry, and all the colors around me mix together, making my head hurt.

When my vision clears again, I'm in a completely different scene. I'm in a dark, empty cave, opening up to a circular stone room within the cave. In the middle, on a small stone stand, there's a 12-inch long dagger, completely black with a black diamond shining in the middle of the room. I feel a connection to the blade, a magnetic pull towards it. It glows with a black light, and it feels powerful, dangerous. I feel like my life could end with a snap of my fingers, so quickly and cut short.

I want to get closer to the Death Dagger, but I can't move. I can't do anything but watch.

Just then, I hear footsteps echo throughout the cave. I feel a sudden cold chill go straight through me, and I realize that someone is walking through me. The mysterious person is hooded, and I can't see who it is. They reach their hand out towards the Death Dagger. The black light from the knife seems to pull towards them, and the diamond in the hilt changes color from an ink black to deep violet, and finally to a dark, ocean blue sapphire.

I try to reach my hand out towards them. I shout at them to stop.

My vision blurs again and when it once again clears, I find myself once again in the back of Gift Academy, my arm thrusted out towards the Extras in front of me. A huge green vine suddenly appears in thin air right in front of them, too close for any of them to react, and smacks most of the remaining ones down, slamming them onto the floor. The only ones left standing are Mike, Liam, and two others.

Mike is still gasping in pain, holding his now burned hand, tears of pain sliding down his cheeks. He glares up at me and a huge water ball appears in his hand. Before he can do anything, Gina knocks him down with a strong wind, his back slamming into the wall behind him.

I'm still trying to regain myself from the vision. What was that? Is it happening now? Who was that hooded person? Where is that cave the Death Dagger was in?

I'm suddenly hit with realization. Is it happening now? No. This is the Fate Dagger. And I've just discovered one of its powers.

I've just seen into the future.