Select Few Read online

  While I waited for Alex to be carried off the court, I hugged my upper arms and wracked my brain, thinking down the line, wondering if there was anything I could do—somehow secretly pay for Alex’s surgery, or college, how to convince John he wasn’t responsible—when the entire stadium erupted in clapping and a few whistles.

  I raised my head and was confused to see Alex limp lightly off the court, John just behind him.

  Unable to move a single muscle, I let the crowd empty the stands and continued to sit where I was, up high in the sweltering heat, watching John.

  I stood off to one side, near the men’s locker room, watching Alex pace gingerly as he waited for his brother. Alex and John had both changed and gathered their gear. Alex snagged John’s sleeve as John tried to walk past.

  “What the hell, man?” I heard Alex whisper to John.

  “What?”

  “What was that?”

  John looked up and saw me nearby. “The match?” John asked his brother, sounding sincere. But then I saw in John’s eyes that he was covering. He knew.

  “I blew my knee out,” Alex stated.

  “You didn’t blow your knee out.”

  “I did. I’ve never been in so much fucking pain.” Alex leaned closer to John. “What did you do when you grabbed my knee?”

  John retreated. “You’re the one who suddenly stood up and started walking. It was nothing I did.”

  Alex stared at John. Then, again, “What did you do?”

  John suddenly jumped all over his brother. “It was a shitty match. Let’s just go.” John blew off Alex and started walking away.

  He half-turned to me as he passed by. “I’m going to go find my parents and tell them I’m driving home with you.” He was upset.

  “Of course.” I could hear myself say the words, but I felt like I was floating somewhere above my body.

  John strode off toward the clubhouse.

  Alex came to stand next to me, snapping me back to the moment. “Did you see it?” Alex asked me directly, almost accusingly.

  “Sort of,” I lied. “I just saw you go down.” I was a wreck. The trembling in my hands hadn’t stopped.

  “I don’t know. He just pried my hands off my knee and put his hands on it like he knew what to do. And then it was like a fire was put out.”

  Over and over again, he kept stretching out his knee. He looked confused, and he walked over to a patch of shade. I followed.

  “Have you noticed how he shifts sometimes?” Alex said.

  “Shifts?”

  “I don’t know. He’ll suddenly go into a mode where he can do everything. And he looks different or maybe he just seems different. It’s like there are these moments where he becomes this tennis god or he can win easily at any other game he plays. Then this crazy thing just happened.”

  “When did you start noticing something unusual?” I shouldn’t have asked because Alex looked at me, suspicious.

  “Here and there last year. And then a lot lately.”

  “I don’t know about your knee. Maybe it was phantom pain. Your brain thought you’d hurt yourself. And the other stuff—I think that’s just John. He’s really good at everything.” I wanted to lead Alex away from where his train of thought was headed. But what did he mean, “here and there last year”? What had I missed?

  “Is it you?” Alex’s eyes glazed with tears of sudden mistrust and fear. “Is the stuff they say about you true?”

  “I don’t understand what you’re asking.” Really I didn’t know how to respond.

  Alex backed off, unsure of the position he was about to take. His instincts were ahead of his brain. “Nothing. I gotta go.”

  “Want me to drive?” John asked as he approached the car. I noted how he avoided looking me in the eye. The tennis center was far quieter than it had been even fifteen minutes ago, only some of the smaller courts still housing matches. John bent low and undid his shoelaces, making them even looser.

  Across the parking lot, Kathleen and Taro waved good-bye, trying to catch our eye as they got into their Accord. As their car drove off, I saw Alex in the backseat, craning to catch a last glimpse of us. I turned my attention to John, who had risen and was staring at me since I hadn’t responded to his question.

  “Can we sit down for a second?” I asked, reluctantly. “I need to talk to you.”

  “What? I just want to get out of here. We can talk in the car.” It struck me that he wasn’t curious as to what I wanted to talk about.

  “Let’s talk now.” I tilted my head back and looked in the sky, knowing I was on the brink of changing everything.

  “Okay,” John said in a cautious tone, steeling himself.

  I’d had time to pick out the spot under the awning of the main court. No one would be able to see us or hear us unless they began walking down the bleachers, and then we would spot them coming.

  He waited on the bench. If I sat next to him, I wouldn’t be able to see him, so I chose to stand in front, keeping us face-to-face. John’s hair had already dried in the heat. He pulled up the bottom edge of his black T-shirt to wipe away a drop of sweat on his face. Then he fidgeted with his shoes again. He looked everywhere but at me.

  “So what happened down there?” I started.

  “I don’t really want to replay the match.”

  “Your brother blew out his ACL.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Did you intentionally fix it?”

  “That’s crazy,” John said dismissively. But he didn’t deny it.

  “Remember Liv at Barton Springs?”

  “Of course.” His eyes snapped to mine at the rare mention of my sister’s name.

  “You touched her that day and she leapt up from being essentially dead.”

  “I thought that was you,” he said.

  I could see in his eyes he was slightly scared, wanting to hear me continue to connect the dots but not sure he was ready to make it real.

  “It wasn’t me,” I finally said.

  John scrubbed his face with his hand. Then he rested his forearms on his knees and looked at me, but still, he didn’t say anything. I began to wonder how long he’d been alone with this.

  “I’m pretty sure that was you,” I began explaining.

  “But it was because of you being there?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. But it wasn’t me.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “John,” I said, gently, wanting him to admit it.

  I reached out to touch him and he dodged my hand, the only sign that he was scared.

  “You’re different than when I first met you,” I began. “For instance, how do you know when I try to read your mind now? How do you block me? I know you pictured my bedroom at the W months before I lived there. Admit it, you realized that on the day of your graduation party. And today you reminded me of what happened with Liv….So you seem to have this healing ability and these visions of the future. What else is going on?”

  John stood.

  “Stop. Don’t walk away. This is important. Look at me,” I ordered.

  John sat back down and stared into my eyes. I settled next to him and took his hand. I remembered when I told him who I really was, about what existed beyond the realm of his imagination. Now I had to tell him he was part of it.

  “Just tell me what’s been happening. I’ve seen it, but tell me what you’ve been feeling.”

  He looked at me for a moment longer. “Fine. Yes, I feel like I’m going through some shit right now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I just thought everything was going my way. I’ve been super focused. I got into Stanford. The smartest, hottest girl on the planet is my girlfriend.”

  I squeezed his hand. “Did something happen?”

  John looked off in t
he distance and then back to me. “I can see details that were invisible before.”

  “Like?”

  “If I look down at the ground, I can see every individual speck of dirt or sand. I also hear sounds I shouldn’t be able to hear—like Spirit’s heartbeat. I’ve been feeling like I’m going crazy.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” I asked, amazed he had been holding it in. Then I saw that John was watching me warily, worried about my reaction.

  “I almost did a few times. I thought about bringing it up that night we went to dinner. But if you didn’t believe me, I would have felt like…I don’t know.”

  “Of course I would have believed you!”

  “I also thought maybe I was hallucinating and I was scared to know that for sure. But I feel amazing. I feel so calm. I did anyway.”

  “What do you mean you did?”

  “Just now, after Alex stood up, it was such a high. It made me remember that I’d had that exact same sensation at Barton Springs. I’d written that off because it was a long time ago and everything happened so fast—I met you for the first time, then your sister almost died, and then all of a sudden we were at the police station.”

  I squeezed his hand hard. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Tell me, Julia. What the fuck is it?”

  John got back into the car, holding two drinks in one hand from the rest stop convenience store. We’d just passed Waco, about a hundred miles from Austin. I was relieved when he closed the door. I was in a hurry. I’d noticed the same black Chevy Tahoe driving behind us for miles and now it was parked at the rest stop as well.

  “Did you know this could happen?” After having a few minutes to himself, John had had time to think of more questions.

  I shakily started the car, taking the iced tea from him with my other hand. I watched him fidget with the lid of his orange Gatorade, the only sign of how nervous he was. While he’d been inside, I’d thought about how I was going to say what I had to next. It was the worst part.

  “My father thought we had an effect on certain people, but I thought I was different. You didn’t think to tell me your grandmother was from Peru, just like my family?”

  “Lots of people are from other countries.”

  “But it’s good—we’re young enough. From what I’ve seen in myself and other Puri kids, when you’re our age you can either develop it and make it stronger or leave it alone and it goes away. So I think there’s still time to make it stop. I’m counting on it.”

  “What are you talking about? I have this feeling like everything is right in me. Like I’m complete. Does that make sense?”

  It made perfect sense. I’d felt it for the first time when I’d read John’s mind.

  John spoke quickly, nervous about what he was asking. “I want you to help me figure this out.”

  “No.” I shook my head vehemently, taking my eyes off the road. “You do not want to be one of us. You will be hiding for the rest of your life. Even from your own family. Trust me. It’s not worth it.”

  “But what would have happened to Alex if I hadn’t done that?”

  “It’s not going to work. It will get you in trouble.”

  “How? I would be so careful.”

  I had expected John to be wary and out of his element, ready to drop it. I had not anticipated that he would push back.

  “Don’t go down this road. I’ve lived it: all fun and games until it’s not, and then it’s lonely. Do you know how scared I am? I never quite know what I can do and if I can control it. I live in fear of messing up in the exact wrong place. You know I’ve done that before. That’s how we met.”

  “Healing people isn’t fun and games.” John reached out and ran his hand down the length of my ponytail. “You see your abilities as a bad thing, but they can obviously be used for something good.”

  “I want to stop somewhere to talk to you.” I scanned for road signs that would tell me where I could pull over. I checked the rearview mirror—no Tahoe behind me.

  “Why?”

  “There’s more.”

  John watched me for a moment and then looked around at the signs on the freeway. “Cameron Park. I’ve played disc golf there. Take that exit.”

  I followed his directions, driving a distance off the freeway. Checking in the rearview mirror, I didn’t see any cars behind us. I wound my way into the park. We were just outside the Waco City limits, but suddenly, we were in a quiet oasis, thick with cedars and oaks that provided a cover of shade.

  Together we silently agreed to walk down the dirt path through a thicket of shadowed woods ahead, the reverberating rattle of cicadas present in surround sound. We reached a lookout, a limestone pavilion shaded by the surrounding trees. Below, at the bottom of the steep cliff, lay the Brazos River bordered by cypress trees, their trunks rising from the water, casting shadows.

  I turned to face him. “I didn’t want to tell you any of this because I didn’t think it mattered.”

  “What?” John asked warily, but still he rested his hands lightly on my waist.

  “Like I said, my father thought there were people out in the world—a select few—who had the potential to become like us. Novak’s been trying for years to change people and it never worked.”

  “What do you mean?” John dropped his hands to his sides.

  On the river, kayakers drifted by in the blazing afternoon sun, their laughter echoing up the rock walls.

  “He believed some people sought him out because they were drawn to his energy, that it tapped in to something that was already in them. Then he reasoned that, if they spent enough time in his presence, they would begin to evolve.”

  “Why would he want to change them? You hate outsiders.”

  I wanted to get this over with. “Novak didn’t hate all of them. He’d watch for someone he thought showed promise and then hire them on as his assistant—Kendra was one of them. Novak hoped they’d make the jump and he could take them into hiding with the rest of the group.” I knew he could hear my voice shake. This was the part I hadn’t wanted him to ever know about.

  “Why?” John asked.

  “We’re becoming extinct. We—they—need more people. An expanded gene pool.”

  John’s eyes widened. “So they took people with them to repopulate?”

  “I’m not sure. I know Novak was looking, but no one else in the group believes there is anyone like us and they were getting impatient with his search.”

  “What happened to the people you mentioned?”

  “They would seem so similar to us—match us in intelligence, kind of begin to look similar to us—and then one day, they would have a psychotic break. Like changing was too much. I think my mother may have been one of the first people Novak experimented with. I don’t know what happened to her though.”

  “So you think I’m one of these people? You’re worried I’m going to have a psychotic break from being around you?”

  “Yes, I think you are one of these people, and yes, I’m worried. I’ve never been this close to anyone but you, especially for an extended period of time. But I’m also worried about something Novak said to me the night I left.”

  John didn’t say a word, his eyes flat, waiting.

  “He told me he’d had a vision: he or Liv were going to read someone’s mind and so they’d know without a doubt that they’d found one of us. Finally.”

  I watched John’s eyes as he realized the eerie accuracy of the prediction.

  “It sounds crazy,” I said in a soft, placating tone.

  “But I’m just me,” he said. “I’m not—”

  At that moment, for his sake, I wished I could go back in time. I was sorry for John that he’d ever crossed my path.

  “I know,” I said. “I felt the same way when I heard my father say it. But I can’t deny that I�
��ve read your mind, and he predicted it—or, well, something close to it. And now I can’t deny that you’re doing these things. For the first time, I’m admitting my father is right. I think it’s clear you’re one of these people. And the fact that your grandmother’s family lived in Peru for a few generations. It’s too much of a coincidence. I don’t know if you have a connection to the Puris or…I don’t know.”

  “What about my brother or my dad?”

  “They’re pretty exceptional people. I don’t know. Maybe it’s lying dormant in them and the right person or circumstance would bring it out. Maybe it’s in everyone and my people just figured out how to tap into it.”

  John shook his head uncertainly.

  “You said it felt like fate the day we met, like we recognized each other. And you’ve had visions yourself. Since the day my family left, I’ve been scared Novak could be right. You thought it was paparazzi attention I was worried about? Really, it’s any photos my father might see of you and me together. I’ve been trying to hide you. I scour the internet frequently, making sure we were never caught on camera together.”

  “But they’re gone.”

  “Apparently, they aren’t gone until the end of summer.”

  “Where did you hear that?” John asked sharply.

  Dammit. I could never mention Angus’s name. I’d already said too much about Kendra. “It was something my father said the last night I saw him. Novak is still searching for you until then.”

  John shook his head, still acting like I was crazy. I remained quiet, watching him wade through my logic. “What do you think would happen if he found me?”

  “He’d take you,” I said bluntly. “Your family would never see you again, and I wouldn’t be able to find you. My father used his money to build a place where he can contain the entire group. They won’t be heard from ever again once summer is over.”

  “It’s underground, isn’t it?”

  “You saw it that day. You had a vision. When we were in my old bedroom the day we went back to the house.”

  John must have seen the look on my face because he reached out as if I were the one who needed comforting.