Gifts: Large and Small

“How do you expect me to do that?” I really hadn’t wanted to cry but I couldn’t help myself. I ended up sobbing.

His eyes are cold, laced with disgust. “I don’t expect you to do it. You are going to do it.”

The tears rolled down my cheeks and I made no effort to stop them. What was the point of pretending to be strong and unaffected when, damn it, I was totally out of my depth? I tried to think of anything, anything at all, that I could say to him that would make him stay but nothing came to mind.

He turned around and out of reflex; I grab hold of his arm. Surprised, he spun around and stared at me. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Please. Please don’t just leave.”

He shook himself free of me. “Audrey, I don’t even like you. I like your sister and I’ve always liked her. You’d just been too...preoccupied to figure it out.”

I stared at him, my hand over my mouth in an evident display of shock and horror, with tears still coursing down my cheeks. How? How could the only guy I’d ever liked be interested in Ella?

How could was what mine become my sister’s, as always?
***
“You look miserable.”

I shrugged at Gabriel Evans. I hardly knew him, only that he was Ella’s acquaintance because they travelled in the same circles of the popular and adored. But he’d started hanging out with me recently, which of course sent the rumour mill into a tizzy about how Gabriel and I were together.

It took too much energy for me to convince them otherwise so I let them believe whatever they wanted to. Besides, it was easier to pretend that I was a girl being pursued by one of the supposedly eligible guys of Rivera High than to let them realise that I was a pathetic fool who had been stupid enough to have fallen for Ethan Sampson, who had never liked me, and whom I could not stop liking.

Gabriel placed his palms on the side of my face and tilted it up until he could see into my eyes. “Hey, I’m serious. Don’t let Ethan Sampson get to you.”

I stared at him emotionlessly for a minute before nodding. I could agree with Gabriel on principle but in practice? I had no idea how to do it.
***
My pen moved across the page effortlessly as I tried to illustrate why the end of Shakespeare’s most tragic and famous love story was perfect. It was so obvious to me--since both of them were dead, Juliet couldn’t be cheated on by Romeo with her sister, which would destroy both Juliet as well as this love story.

“Um, Mrs. Cullen, may I speak to Audrey Sparks?”

I looked up automatically and found Gabriel Evans standing at the door with an almost nervous expression. There was a quiet, jealous whisper from the girls behind me and to my surprise; I felt a blush on my cheeks.

Mrs. Cullen eyed Gabriel. I thought that she would protest but she merely nodded and added, “Don’t take too long. We’re in the middle of a test.”

I stood and cringed at the sound of my chair scraping against the floor. Everyone now looked up from their paper and I heard a few titters when they realised that it was Gabriel Evans who was looking for Audrey Sparks. I moved quickly out of my class to Gabriel, the blush refusing to fade, and asked him, eloquently, “What?”

“We’re in trouble.” His nervous expression was gone, replaced by a determined look. Without further explanation, he took my hand (and this sent more blood rushing to my cheeks) and sprinted me out of school and to his car.

Gabriel released my hand and gestured impatiently at me to get in. I stood there mutely for a second and then realised that he wanted me to ditch with him. But didn’t he say that we were in trouble? Wouldn’t ditching simply get us into more?

Sighing, he pulled me into his car and got in.

And then we left the school.
***
It took me a while to find my voice, since it was rusty from the lack of use as I had nobody I’d wanted to speak to lately. “What did you mean by we’re in trouble?”

Gabriel ran a hand thoughtfully over his mouth. “I guess I shouldn’t have said that to you if I didn’t want you to know... Today’s your birthday, isn’t it?”

Wondering my birthday had to do with anything, I nodded.

Satisfied, Gabriel continued, quietly, “I’m not exactly normal, Aud. My family’s been gifted, or cursed depending on how you see it, with the ability to see how a person’s future will play out.”

I thought about it for one second. “You’re crazy.”

Looking at me with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, a look which I started to realise suited Gabriel Evans well, he said, “I’m not. I know what’s going to happen tonight. Ethan is going to throw a huge party for her, they’re going to hook up and then he’s going to kill both of you.”

I didn’t have to look in the mirror to know that I’d paled. “You might think that you’re funny but you’re really starting to scare me.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’d seen that possibility from the moment he dumped you but I hadn’t realised what the significance was. But now, I do.” His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Gabriel’s sky blue eyes stayed on the road as he continued, “Ethan’s not exactly human. He’s, uh, a demon of sorts and his kind needs to feed off twins, when they turn 17. I figured that if he can’t get to you, he wouldn’t be able to carry the ritual out.”

I’d been enough of a geek to have read books about demons. There were some, supposedly, on earth to create havoc and devastation and some whom lived here only for the fun of it. Of course, they were always described as being smoking hot and if I had to think about it, Ethan fit all three accounts. But I didn’t, because Gabriel was obviously insane. “Gabriel...I think you should slow down a little and tell me when you first started thinking that you have um...that special ability.”

He remained quiet for the rest of the journey (which I guess meant that he was furious) before cutting the engine in front a cottage-like structure and getting out of the car. I did the same and followed him in, realising that this cottage was the Evans’ summerhouse, where Kelsey threw the most outrageous parties or so I’d heard from Ella, back when we were still speaking.

Gabriel sat down on a cream coloured couch while I picked the white wicker chair, if only because it was the furthest away from him.

“I suppose you need proof, huh?” Gabriel sounded bored but his blue eyes were downcast...almost anxious. Without waiting for a reply, he closed his eyes and screwed up his face. “In about...3 minutes’ time, your mum’s going to call you to tell you that she’s busy with another client tonight and for you to start your birthday celebrations without her.”

He opened his baby blues and gazed expectantly at me, as though waiting for my phone to actually ring, which was of course ridiculous.

But my phone rang shrilly. “Hello?”

“Oh thank god you picked up, Audrey! I’m sorry but I’m going to be very busy tonight, there’s just one of those irritating clients... I couldn’t get Ella on the line, but I think it would be best if you start your celebrations without me.”

I blinked a few times, wondering if I had been transported to an alternate dimension without noticing. Gabriel had actually managed to predict...the future? Granted, it wasn’t unusual of my mother to be caught up with her work but she had sworn that she would keep tonight free for Ella and me. But still, Gabriel managed to do it. Clearing my throat, I answered, “Okay. I’ll tell Ella.”

“Fantastic. I think you would have a better time without me anyway, since Ethan’s throwing that birthday party-”

I snapped my phone shut, my heart suddenly pounding. “You were right. Ethan’s planning a party.”

Gabriel nodded. “So you believe me now? You’re going to stay here until the end of tonight?”

“I...I don’t know. I think I’m going to need a bit more details from you. Can you please explain to me how your gift works?”

It turned out that only a select few of his family were actually gifted. There was usually a reason why but so far Gabriel hadn’t found out why he was. That, I supposed, explained why he was always alone in school although he was admittedly very good-looking and should have a girlfriend by Rivera High’s standards.

“I know that you’ve arranged all this to keep me safe but I can’t do it. Ella is somewhere out there with a demon, a demon who is going to-” The bile rose to my throat and I swallowed hard. “-hook up with her. I can’t sit here and wait for it to happen! Even if she stole my boyfriend, she’s still my sister.”

He frowned but I could tell that I’d gotten to him. Blowing a breath out from his mouth, he muttered darkly, “Why couldn’t I’ve been saddled with someone a little less persuasive?”

I flushed. If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve thought that Gabriel Evans was paying me a complement. But I knew better. Or at least, I think I did. “So are we going to save Ella?”

The corners of his lips quirked up.
***
“Look, I apologise for stealing Ethan from you but you sound completely crazy.” Ella twirled the ends of her hair, the exact shade of my own, and eyed with me with a mixture of disgust and bafflement. “Really, you’ve become such a mess.”

Gabriel caught my eye from across the shop and nodded once, signalling that I had only had a few minutes left before I needed to leave for the Evan’s cottage because the party was starting soon. He’d made me promise that if Ella didn’t believe me, I had to leave her behind and also that I wouldn’t mention anything about him to Ella.

Of course, that made my story a little less convincing. “Ella, you have to believe me. I might’ve been a bitch and everything because of Ethan but I’m not telling you this because I’m jealous. I really-”

Ella didn’t bother listening; instead she picked up speed and walked out of the mall. Not to be deterred by her obvious brush off, I followed her and continued, “-don’t think that it’s a good idea of you to go that party.”

Ella’s dark green eyes brightened and my stomach lurched, telling me that there could only be one reason why she was so happy. Following her gaze, I saw Ethan Sampson leaning against his car, smirking.

He straightened and walked to us. I willed myself to move away from him but I was frozen with shock and by the time I managed to recover, he was in front of us, his arm around Ella’s waist and whispering something into her ear that made her giggle.

His dark eyes-had they always been so penetrating?-turned to me and something wild flashed through his eyes. He’d seen that I knew. I spun around, though I knew it was too late, and this time, he was the one who grabbed hold of my elbow. Ethan’s hand, though uncomfortably hot, sent chills down my spine. His voice, smooth as silk, was worse. “Where do you think you’re going, Audrey?”

“Uh...home?”

“Turn around, Aud.” His hand moved to my elbow and he, very gently, shifted me around until I faced him. I saw how confused Ella looked and how Ethan’s determination shone in his eyes. “Ah. I see. Gabriel Evans told you everything.”

“How...how did you know?”

Ethan shrugged. “You should try asking me what I don’t know. I’m not what Gabriel thinks I am but I possess enough power to have made him wary of me. I suppose I never should’ve dumped you. It made him more suspicious. But I couldn’t help it. I always go for the prettier ones.”

I wasn’t stupid. The only reason why he would so freely tell me everything was if I was going to die very soon. “What are you? And what are you going to do now?"

“It doesn’t matter what I am. As for what I’m going to do...” He ran a finger along Ella’s jaw line and I saw whatever confusion that had been in her eyes was gone, replaced by an eerie calmness. “I don’t really have to wait until you’re 17, I just thought that it would be fun that way. So I suppose I have to end everything right now.”

We were in front of so many people, but I knew that Ethan had his ways of concealing the truth. How else would Ella be looking so composed if he didn’t have some kind of power?

I couldn’t let him win though. I couldn’t just wait for Ethan to kill me. But I was ordinary, unlike Gabriel and Ethan... Where was Gabriel? But I couldn’t wait for him to come for me. For all I knew, he was gone. “No. You’re not going to-”

His face darkened and he released Ella. His other hand went to my face and he gazed deeply into my eyes. I stared at him, wondering what he was trying to do.

“Why doesn’t it work on you?” Ethan’s voice was confused but not exactly angry. “Strange that out of all the others in this world, my ability doesn’t work on you... Perhaps, I should keep you as a pet.”

“Sampson, aren’t you forgetting something?”

Both of us turned to the direction of the voice. Gabriel.

Ethan unconsciously loosened his hold on me as he said, “Evans. What good can you do? The future that you’ve predicted has moved into the present.”

“There’s nothing I can do. But that girl you’re holding there, she has her own power. Maybe that’s why yours doesn’t work with her. They’re too similar.”

I knew that Gabriel was trying to clue me into my power. What did he mean by our powers were too similar? Ethan managed to conceal the truth by contact... Oh. Was that what Gabriel meant? “You are going to let go of Ella and I, Ethan.”

Unwillingly, Ethan released me. His eyes widened in horror now that he knew what I could do. “You...you...”

I smiled widely. He couldn’t do anything to me now. I guess this wasn’t what people had in mind when they said someone had the power of persuasion. “Ethan, you’re going to leave this town and you’re never going to use your power ever again. You are going to forget that you even had one and you’re going to return to wherever you came from.”

He blinked hard.

Gabriel laughed aloud and I turned to smile at him. I waited until Ethan got into his car and drove off before waking Ella up.

Finally, Ethan Sampson was out of my life.
***
“Why do you think I have powers?”

It was later on my birthday, after I’d checked on Ella and ensured that she hadn’t been affected by this afternoon’s standoff, when Gabriel came by the house. He blushed, another reaction I hadn’t thought Gabriel Evans was capable of. “Uh, remember when I said that there was a reason why I was gifted, only that I wasn’t sure what it was.”

I nodded.

“I figured it out today.” His blue-eyed gaze was steady on me, though his cheeks grew steadily redder. “You have a power that’s rare, one that only happens because of coincidences. And I’m supposed to, um; keep you safe because there’s going to be one day when you need to use it for something bigger.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t comforted by the thought that I had something terrible looming in my future. “Why do you look so embarrassed? Did you see something else in my future?”

Gabriel closed his eyes. “Not exactly. It’s just something that’s been on my mind.”
If he didn’t want to talk about it, I wasn’t going to push him. So I changed the topic. “Where did you disappear to just now?”

“I thought that I’d give you some time alone with Ella. It was only later when I realised that your future had totally disappeared that Ethan was there.” His eyes were still firmly shut.

"Oh. There's something that bothering me though. Why didn't my power work on Ethan when I um...asked him not to leave me?" There was no reason for me to feel so embarrassed when asking him this. After all, he already knew everything. But still, I couldn't help it.

He frowned and opened his eyes. It was clear that he didn't like this question but I didn't know which part he didn't like. Was it me asking about the power or was it the part about Ethan? Nonetheless, he replied, "Nobody's powers will work unless they acknowledge them. My parents always knew that I was...special but until I realised it myself, my gift didn't work as well."

That made sense.

He cleared his throat and added, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

I waited but he didn’t say anything. So I turned to him and found his face inches away from mine.

Then he kissed me. And I liked it.