II
I didn't have much appetite at dinner, and you can imagine why. I should have tried to eat something, though, because my parents instantly noticed something was wrong.
I mumbled excuses and left quickly. I definitely wasn't going to tell them about the blue-eyed boy. Especially my dad. He had enough on his shoulders already without having to know that a Hunter, who would probably stop at nothing to get his hands on a one of us, was now stalking his oldest daughter.
At least Destiny, my thirteen-year-old sister, was probably safe. She had stayed back at our farm down in Virginia, to learn more from John. She, too, knew absolutely nothing about the blue-eyed boy. I had only just told Ariel about it, and she still found it hard to believe that the blue-eyed boy was a Hunter.
"I sensed something…different about him, Morgan!" She had said. "I never would have guessed that he's a Hunter. I felt so sure he was going to help us!"
Help us. As if. The Hunters only help themselves. And if he wasn't a Hunter, what was he? No, he had to be a Hunter. That was the only explanation.
5
That was the second night I dreamed of the blue eyed boy. I was walking through the misty gray woods of my home farm, back in Virginia. I was breathing in the sweet summer air, relishing the cool freshness, when he appeared. He came straight, and I mean straight, right out of the shadows. They seemed to melt away where he walked. I tried to step back and draw my knife, but my body wouldn't respond to what my brain commanded. I felt frozen. All I could see were his eyes… I could only stand there, helpless, as he came closer…and closer…and closer….
I jerked upright with a strangled scream, flying out of bed and snatching my knife off of the nightstand. I half expected the blue eyed boy to be standing inside my room, the dream had been so realistic. But there was nothing.
I sank back into bed, my breath still coming in gasps. He's not here, I told myself. He has absolutely no idea where you live. But I stayed awake for the rest of the night.
My thoughts were jumbled around my head, and there was a constant buzzing at the base of my skull. What's wrong with me? I wondered. I felt that I should do something, only I couldn't think of anything but those hypnotic, electric blue eyes. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer. It was only five in the morning. Maybe a run would help clear my head. I scribbled a note and left it on the refrigerator before I snuck out via the fire escape. Don't ask me why. I just felt the urge to sneak. The blue eyed boy could be anywhere.
Went for a run and to explore the city.
Be back sometime after lunch. Love you!
Morgan
6
The morning was crisp and cool. It was disturbingly close to that of my dream the night before, except that I was still in the stupid city. I had never liked the city, being brought up on a Virginia farm, but especially now I hated it. I knew my way around the country. I knew all the people and I knew the land like the back of my hand. Better, even. This city was strange, unfamiliar and somehow hostile.
Lost in thought, I wandered through the winding streets until I was jerked awake by a strange vibrating. It took me a moment to realize that it was my newly acquired Samsung Moment. I liked to keep it on vibrate. There was no caller ID, and the number was unfamiliar. I answered it anyway.
"Hello?"
"Um…hi." The voice on the other line crackled.
"Uh…hi? Who…who is this, exactly?" I asked, mystified.
"Oh uh…oh, oh yeah! Yeah sorry…"
"Uh huh…" I said slowly, waiting for an explanation.
"This is Chris."
I could have laughed. Chris was our neighbor, back in Va. His parents and mine grew up together and he was about my age, but I hadn't really talked to him much. I wondered how he got my number.
"Oh hi! I'm sorry, didn't recognize your voice! So…what's up?"
"Uh…nothin'."
"So…what do you want?"
"Um, nothing. Just calling, to, you know, see what was up."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Well…bye."
He hung up. Well that was weird, I thought. I wonder-vmmmmmmmmmm. There it was again. What did he want now? I answered,
not bothering to check the number.
7
"Hey. What is it now?" I tried not to sound too bored. I never had much patience with Chris. He doesn't talk very much, and when he does he never really gets to the point. Usually he's just…there.
"What?"
I almost laughed again. It was Destiny.
'Sorry! I thought you were Chris. He's like stalking me!"
"Really?"
"No. But he got my number somehow, and he just called."
"What did he want?" she asked excitedly.
"I don't really know." I answered honestly. "He just kind of mumbled some lame excuses and hung up. It was weird."
I could picture her shrugging carelessly as she replied, "He does that a lot. But anyhow…Are you having fun in the city? It's so boring down here without you! All I do is train and train and train. The only excitement I've had is when those three stupid teenage guys on four-wheelers who used to trespass on our land went by. They were showing off, chasing each other and going really really fast and tossing up mud everywhere. I couldn't wait for one of them to flip over and hurt himself. But the only thing that happened was that one of the guys lost his hat. The wind blew it off and it landed in the water. He had to go back and get it."
I snickered. "That sounds fun to me."
"Really?"
"No."
"See? You get all the excitement, I bet."
"Not really. Except for the blue eyed boy-"
I swear, it just kind of slipped out. I didn't meant for anybody to know about the boy. I wouldn't have even told Ariel, except for the fact that she dreamed about him all the time so she had the right to know. Destiny was on to me immediately.
"The blue eyed boy? The one that Ariel has visions of? What about
8
him?"
"I-well-I…he…nothing! I just had a dream about him too, the other day, is all." I blustered. Unfortunately, I am a very, very bad liar, and Destiny knew it.
"Puh-leez. You expect me to believe that? Seriously, what happened? Did you see him? Have you met him? Did you kill him? Oh, wow! Ariel is gonna be so mad if you kill him!"
"No, no, no!' I cried. 'I didn't kill him, and even if I tried I probably couldn't. He just…I…well…I think he's a Hunter, and he's kind of…following me…" I confessed.
"What! A Hunter! Does Ariel know? He's stalking you? He wants to use you! How dare he! You really should go kill him. Now that's what I call excitement! I wish I had a Hunter stalking me! I'd make him wish he'd never even seen me! They should know not to mess with Speakers."
"Speakers?"
"Us, genius. People with True Sight. That's what we're called."
"Oh. Speakers. Yeah, I'd…I'd forgotten."
"Don't tell John you forgot! He gets so mad when I treat my lessons like 'play games', as he says. 'This is serious! Real life and death, not some silly little play game!' blah, blah, blah…"
"Uh huh…." I murmured, becoming increasingly distracted. I had the strangest feeling that I was being watched. And there could be only one person who would be watching me now. The blue eyed boy.
"Um yeah, Destiny, that's great! Great, but I have to go now. See ya."
" 'Great'? How is that great! I'm stuck here being bored to death by a psychotic old man while you get to go off and fight the Hunters and you call that great? I wish I-"
I hung up. I could feel it for real now. His eyes were boring into my back. Blue eyes. Couldn't I go anywhere without being followed by one of them? I slipped around the corner and broke into a run.
9
Green Park was near, just beyond the Central Square. That would be a good place to lose him, I thought. I dodged the people scattered around the Square, waved to a fellow runner, tripped over some lady's pet poodle, and, not bothering with the big gate, leaped the wood fence bordering the huge park. If it couldn't stop me, it certainly wouldn't stop the blue eyed boy, but at least I knew the park better than most of the city, because I'd been her once before, when I was much younger, my aunt Jessie had taken me. That wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. Worth a shot.
"Wait! Please, stop!" he cried out, somewhere behind me. Like an idiot, I shot a glance over my shoulder, tripped over a tree root, and fell into the water fountain that just happened to be right there. Naturally.
I scrambled upright and dropped into a battle-ready crouch, spitting curses and wishing for my knife. It rarely left my side these days, but by some ill-conceived twist of fate I'd completely forgotten to take it with me this morning. He'd almost caught up with me, holding out his hand to show he was unarmed. He slowed to a lurching trot, eyes rolling wildly in his head and steps wavering erratically. I half-rose from my crouch, now completely confused. First I'd been running from my life from him. Now he looked like he needed an ambulance. Or a padded cell.
"Wait!" he called for one last time. He stopped in front of me, leaning over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. He looked up at me, sweaty strands of hair hanging in front of his eyes.
"Please. I need your help."
