Read The Gifted for Free Online Page B

about to jump
out of a moving plane!
    “Jump facing forward with your arms tucked!”
yelled Brock. We all nodded.
    Before anything else was said, Tracy grabbed
my arm, turned to me and yelled with a smile, “Well, no time like
the present!” She took two steps and jumped out. That girl was
crazy! I didn’t want to look more afraid than a girl, so I jumped
after her.
    As I fell I think I saw Han jump after me
right before I hit a brick wall with my face!

Chapter 9: What we discover
    Well, maybe I didn’t really hit a brick wall,
but it felt like it. I was convinced I was dead. There was a bright
light and voices. I thought I must be in heaven until I heard the
others calling my name. “You okay, Andy?” I opened my eyes. I knew
the voice belonged to Guido but I still couldn't locate him until
he touched my arm. It was always weird when he did that. It's like
he just came out of nowhere, but at the same time I know he was
always there.
    “Yeah, I'm just trying to find the rest of
me,” I said. “Anybody seen my brain?”
    “Now you sound like yourself,” said
Guido.
    I could see Brock swimming past us, big as a
tanker. “Now let's get going,” he said in his deep voice. “We can’t
stay out in the open for long. We might get spotted.”
    Just before we started to follow him, I heard
Guido. “Brock, what would have happened if we jumped so our backs
hit the water instead?”
    “I was thinking of doing that as well,” said
Tracy. “Maybe the tanks would have cushioned the fall.”
    Brock answered, “Maybe your tanks would have
ripped your arms out of their sockets. Or better yet, your
head.”
    “There’s a fun thought,” I said. We all
started following Brock.
    It took maybe twenty minutes of steady
swimming before we approached land. There was an enormous building
not far from shore and I wondered if that was where we were going
to be if all this went well.
    Brock motioned with two fingers that he
wanted all of us to follow him and then he dove under the water. I
shrugged and followed. Brock was diving deep, which scared me. The
water got a lot colder and darker as we dove. The practice tank
never prepared me for this! Brock headed toward a rock face and
disappeared into it. I could only guess there must be a cave. Still
unable to see it, I followed him anyway.
    Darkness surrounded me for half a minute
until I saw light above us. I thought about swimming for it, but
remembered that we were diving so no one up top would see us.
    We swam on and it got dark again. Before I
had time to get fully scared, Brock took out a glow stick and broke
it. We all followed suit. Behind Brock was Tracy, then Guido and
Han, and me at the end.
    We swam for a while this way and I wondered
how far under the island we were traveling. I was impressed with
the size of this cave. A wall skirted my left side, but the right
was empty blackness.
    Something bumped me from behind. How could
that be , I thought? I was the last one. I felt it again. It
felt like someone hitting me with their fist. I turned and looked
behind and in the eerie light of the glow stick I saw a great white
shark grinning at me, its long teeth shining in the dark. I
screamed. Have you ever tried to scream underwater? It comes out
something like “bebub bb b barbbb.” The shark nudged my feet with
its nose and kept following me. I tried to scream again and swam as
fast as I could, but the shark just followed close at my feet.
    That's when it hit me. I knew what this shark
was doing. I didn't need to fear for my life. My gift was causing
the shark to like me. Not for dinner, but to want to be around me.
To play with me perhaps. I often had this effect on neighborhood
dogs. At that moment I was more thankful for my gift than I have
ever been in my life. I said a silent prayer of thanks, glad that I
could be the shark’s friend instead of his lunch. He never went
after the others, but was content to stay at my heels for the rest
of the journey until we came to