To Be Gifted

“You’re being ridiculous.”

He was looking at me now and his eyes were two dark pools of fury. Normally I would’ve blushed but the numbness I had mistaken as calm made his anger an observation; not something that affected me. I replied, tonelessly, “I know I am. I just want to know what I can do.”

“You’re not the last Object. Stop jumping to conclusions.”

I shrugged. “You’re not really convincing me right now, Drew.”

He glowered at me and then sighed, giving up trying to intimidate me. “You’ve really got to stop sticking your nose into situations that you don’t belong in. Sooner or later you’re going to end up in trouble.”

I bit back a retort about how I was going to die anyway, sensing that it wouldn’t help and waited for Drew to continue.

“You are the last Object.” Drew leaned against the basins, his eyes not leaving me. He was close enough for me to touch him if I wanted. Instead, I shifted slightly away from him. “I wasn’t kidding when I said that you can help us find the other Objects, because that’s part of what you do. You’re the Compass. You’ll point us in the direction of what we seek. The necklace is supposed to suppress some of that, at least that’s what the Headmaster said.”

“But wouldn’t the Compass help you find the Objects? Wouldn’t that be a good thing?” I tried to pretend that I wasn’t affected by the realisation that I was being used, pretending to be logical. I don’t know if he bought it. I didn’t even know why I bothered pretending. Drew had never cared that much about my feelings anyway.

“You’re forgetting that you’re a weapon too. If the killer finds you first, we’re done. He wouldn’t kill you but he’ll use you. We can’t let him know we’ve found the Compass. I guess...in some ways the Headmaster wants to be sure that you’ll be our side —”

“You’re my bodyguard.”

“What?”

“You’re here to make sure that I don’t get hurt. That’s why you came to find me that day, when the first Object was taken even though you clearly wanted to go help them.” Some unknown emotion crushed me, made me feel humiliated at how I’d thought he came to find me because he wanted to and not because he was supposed to. “Everything you’ve done is because of your job, isn’t it? Only that the Headmaster was getting worried that you were telling me too much, so he stopped you.”

“...you’re too intelligent for your own good.” His tone was cocky but his expression was apologetic.

I smiled humourlessly. Drew Sutherland was such a contradiction. I hated being able to read him because it meant that I couldn’t hate him properly, no matter how I tried to convince myself that I did. I had actually been developing a crush on him.

How stupid could I be?

Drew must’ve mistaken my silence as being indignant. He said, in a more sincere tone, “It’s really nothing personal, Haley. I’m sorry that things had to turn out this way. But now that you know...there’s nothing the Headmaster can do.”

“That means that you can carry out your bodyguard duty now without pretending, doesn’t it?” I asked quietly, keeping my voice void of emotion.

“What are you talking about?”

I forced a smile on my face. “You can go on protecting me without pretending that you actually like me.”

He stood up, seemingly shocked out of his causal pose. “I wasn’t pre—”

“God, stop lying to me!”

We stood, staring at each other. He was wearing a look of annoyance, which stung somehow. I didn’t know how I could feel so many things at once without going insane. The silence bore on, leaving me confused. What were we still doing here? What else did he want to say to me?

He still looked irritated when he finally said, carefully, “If it means anything, I won’t be your ‘bodyguard’ anymore. Zara Quinn would be. I think you saw her in the cafeteria earlier. The Headmaster found her for you.”

It felt like someone had socked me in the stomach. That perfect, pretty girl was so close to Drew because they had been discussing me, how to protect me, about how clumsy and incapable I was.

The door of the washroom opened behind us, surprising both of us. We had asked Daniel to stand guard outside but someone had made it through them. A look of surprise flitted through Trent’s features before he covered it up with a smile.

“Well, I guess I should’ve known when I saw Dan outside.” His tone was smooth, causal and so was his smile. “There’s something going on here isn’t there?”

“Keep out of it,” I said, trying to keep my tone as casual as his was. But my voice broke mid-sentence. I cleared my throat and continued, “Trent, I’d really appreciate it if you can leave right now.”

He shrugged. “I would, except that it looks like Sutherland here’s pissing you off.”

Drew snarled, “Shut the fuck up, Trent.”

They stood, glowering at each other, Drew looking obviously angry but Trent with a blank expression. They looked like they were about to fight; the tension in the washroom became unbearable, so much so that I felt that this wasn’t really about me anymore. It never really was about me anyway.

“I’m leaving,” I said, quietly, my head hurting from trying to understand it all.

Trent glanced at me and then his gaze went to Drew. He said, “What I just wanted to tell you, Sutherland, is that the Headmaster’s looking for you. Something about training Zara Quinn?”

I walked away, swallowing the lump in my throat, wondering if Trent knew how much I was jealous of Zara Quinn. Was he trying to antagonise me? Or was it Drew that he was trying to annoy?

Trent caught up with me, slamming the washroom door behind him. I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that Daniel was standing a small distance away, looking curiously at us. I was so sick of people watching me, trying to figure out if there was drama in my life.
I wanted to left alone.

“I didn’t mean to come off as a jerk, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

I stopped and stared incredulously at Trent. “I find that kind of hard to believe.”

We were quiet for a moment and then he said, “I lied, okay? The Headmaster wasn’t looking for Drew. I just wanted to know how you really felt about him. And I guess I know now.”

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the tightness in my chest. It was so, so stupid of me to be so upset over some boy but it hurt how I’d got rejected and lied to before anything even happened. He lied to me about who I was and what I was supposed to do. And now, now it looked like I was hurting Trent too. I just couldn’t do anything right. What was I supposed to do now?

His arms came around me and he tugged me closer to him. I didn’t struggle, leaning against him and cried.



It was midnight but I wasn’t in my bed. I couldn’t sleep. Instead, I was walking about in the School with a flashlight, trying to figure out where the next Object, the Fallen’s Sword, was.

My thoughts were straightened out now. Drew didn’t matter; at least I told myself that he didn’t. The School mattered more and I didn’t even want to think what would happen if the Gifted didn’t win the war. I couldn't remove the necklace, though. The clasp had truly disappeared. But I was hoping that I could still do it with the necklace on.

As I strolled past the cafeteria for the second time, I wondered what kind of feeling I was supposed to get when I found an Object. Was I supposed to feel some kind of pain or something?

A movement out of the corner my eye caught my attention. I shone my flashlight at it but whoever or whatever it was had disappeared. Had I imagined it? But then it appeared again, some kind of shadow that appeared at the wrong angle.

My breathing grew ragged as I chased after it. I lost it at the School’s gardens. Panting, I looked around me, wondering what on earth was going on. What had that shadow been? Had the Rebels already penetrated the School?

Right then, something else caught my attention. I was glowing. Turning off my flashlight, I stared down at myself. There was a faint light emanating from me. Looking up, I realised that there was something else in the gardens that was giving off light as well. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the older parts of the School, where the Elite were kept away from. We were told it was because those parts of the School were too old to be safe.

Trent had told that that wasn’t true though. Those parts were where the Gifted’s secret equipment was kept. I didn’t know I hadn’t seen it before but it was logical that Alex Sanderson would hide something only where the Gifted could find it.

Breaking out into a smile, I ran towards it.