Sorry I haven't posted in a while, got school...:P

Chapter 1

My stuff was packed. My room was cleared. My bags were in the car. Downstairs, my parents and grandmother were waiting to take me to school. The "School for Psi Children", located in the middle of the Arizonan desert, started in three days. I was going. So was Liam. And Chubs, Vida, and Zu.

The car ride to the airport was long and stuffy. Many of the airports were closed, so only a few remained open. The airplane ride was even longer, and the plane was almost empty save for a few scattered people: an older man with an over-stuffed briefcase, sa middle-age woman with dyed blonde hair, a family with two young children, and a man with a trench coat and a hat pulled low over his eyes.

My book laid open in my lap, though my parents sat next to me. My father's leg bounced relentlessly and my mother's fingers tapped incessantly on her leg. The sounds patter in my head, making it hard to focus and making me nervous about the future. I couldn't take it anymore. Standing up, I edged my way past my jittering parents and waled to the back of the plane. I could feel their eyes on the back of my head as I walked away. They were still not over "losing" me, and they treated every time we parted as though they would never see me again.

I passed my grandmother who was in the seat next to and a little behind ours. She was asleep with bulky headphones covering her ears and a dribble of spit leaking from her partly open mouth. I mentally smiled and continued walking. Near the back was the mother I had noticed coming in. She was attempting to change her baby's diaper, but failing miserably. "Here," I said, grabbing the baby and lying him down on the table usually reserved for water, "Lie him down, like this"

"Thank you so much, you're a lifesaver. Rob usually handles this," She said gratefully, nodding toward the front of the plane. "But he's asleep so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm Melanie, and this is Jack by the way." She extended her hand, but I, realizing there was no way she would have changed the baby, began to change him, so my hands were full and she dropped her hand casually. I had been babysitting the kids on the block for cash, and one of them was a baby so I had gotten pretty good.

"Ruby," My concentration almost made it sound sarcastic, or like an insult.

She didn't seem to mind, which was either kind or odd. Or maybe I was reading too much into things. My time in Thurmond, on the run, and in the Children's League had taught me to be too suspicious of people, maybe they were just kind.

On the way back to my seat I passed the man in the tan coat and hat going in the other direction. He brushed past me, almost pushing me off my feet. He muttered a hasty apology and kept walking to the back of the plane, to where Melanie was cooing with Jack.

The interaction unsettled me, and although I could've reached into his brain right then and figured out the truth, I didn't. I had done my best to stay away from the temptation. It was too much power; too much control. It was a part of me I would never be rid of, and I didn't want to be. That didn't mean I wanted the power to alter someone else's life, memories, feelings, or actions. I didn't invade the privacy of a stranger that might have been harmless and innocent. I should've.