Sara Bright
After half an hour, it was getting dark. Lavinia
was invisible but she was also lost in this part of Los Angeles. She’d taken
the bus practically to the other side of the world – her parents would be
horrified – and she wasn’t sure how long this invisibility potion would last.
It was due to wear off, and she knew she’d be tired when it did. How could it
be safe to sleep on some park bench, here?
Finally, Lavinia and Sara had reached a
group of homes at the foot of some hills on the outskirts of the city and on
the edge of a vacant lot. This was not a nice place to live; at least it didn’t
seem nice until Lavinia noticed Sara walking into a ramshackle house, through
the back door and down the stairs towards a trailer.
The van was old and a bit rusty looking. The
night was folding in; but something strange happened. The minute Sara entered
the trailer it lit up with fairy lights. It looked like a tiny, mobile palace. Lavinia
wondered if, apart from Sara, only other gifted people could see this.
Lavinia walked closer to the van. All you
could hear was the crunching of her feet and the slight shiver of her shoulders
in the breeze. The closer she got, the more tentative she became. Through the
window, Lavinia could see Sara talking on her cell and singing along to a song
when she started doing the dishes. But even the dishes seemed like an easy
chore; they literally started doing themselves and Sara settled on the couch
and flicked on the television. Her life was not as bad as Lavinia had imagined
it to be. In fact, it was magical.
Lavinia thought she should go – it was
obvious Sara was a conjurer – she could manifest and move objects, one of the
most powerful gifts of all. She made Lavinia feel like a fraud. After all,
without her cell, what did she really have? Perhaps this girl could do other
things that would make her a match for Lavinia. Lavinia’s envy grew.
Sara seemed settled in her perfectly lit
luxury trailer and Lavinia knew her own parents would be worried about her.
Just as she turned, a leopard started
running towards her in the distance, not really running – he was moving so
fast, it was like he was merging; his paws barely touched the ground. Then he merged
into a boy and the boy became Jack Hunter. He was a shifter, of course. The
leopard part of him must have picked up her scent.
I should never have worn that perfume,
Lavinia thought as she stood her ground. Then, just as Lavinia was about to
run, the teenage boy walked confidently towards her, pulling on his shirt.
As he moved closer, Lavinia noticed he was
smiling.
“Don’t worry, whoever you are. Your perfume
put me off.”
Lavinia froze, knowing if she ran, the ground
would crunch beneath her feet.
During basketball practise, Jack could run
faster than anybody else. Lavinia had never seen him actually merge. She knew
he only did it when other people weren’t around. It was a pretty freaky
condition. He looked so normal. Sara wondered what he was doing all the way out
here in the dark; it made sense that he liked to run in the hills at night, just being a wild animal, unless… He started
walking away from her towards Sara’s van in the distance.
Then Lavinia knew.
Sara and Jack were meeting up with each
other.
The boy knocked on Sara’s door as Lavinia
could feel her body re-emerging slightly in the dark; she felt woozy, sleepy
and angry. She wanted revenge; Jack was hers. Lavinia was sure he’d invite her
to homecoming dance but if he didn’t, she was going to use all the power she
could to make him take her.
Lavinia saw her fingernails emerge first. The
color chipped from the trauma of invisibility. She knew she’d have to hurry
home before she fell into a deep, trancelike sleep, which gave her an idea.
Reluctantly, jealously, she left.
