Read Wild-born for Free Online Page B

her. “Don’t do that! What if I hurt you again?”
    “You didn’t hurt me, Adrian,” said Cat. “And you won’t. I’m not afraid.”
    “What are you doing in here, Cat?” I asked, annoyed.
    “Same as you. Staying awake because I can’t sleep.”
    “Go do it in your own room!”
    Cat looked at me defiantly. “Addy-baby.”
    “Go away! I’m in no mood to chase you around.”
    “Feeling sorry for yourself?” asked Cat.
    “Wondering if I’ll ever be normal again.”
    I got up and turned on the light. Cat sat on my bed, and I slumped down in my desk chair. I looked at Cat, who sat expressionless and silent, staring back at me.
    Maybe she was right. Maybe I was feeling a little sorry for myself. But more than that, I was scared. I was scared of so many things now that it was difficult just keeping them organized. What if my powers overwhelmed me? What if I hurt my family or my friends? What if I had another headache? What if the doctors locked me up? What if I never saw Mom or Dad or Cat ever again?
    “Adrian, what do you think is going to happen tomorrow?” asked Cat.
    I shrugged. “Dad said they’ll probably do some tests.” I forced a smile and added, “Then maybe they’ll put me in a big frying pan for the rest of my life.”
    Cat didn’t laugh.
    “How do you think it’s going to end?” I asked.
    “I don’t know...” Cat paused, and then she looked at me and smiled. “How about, ‘And they all lived happily ever after’?”
    “I’d like that, Cat,” I said quietly. “That’d be great.”
    Cat reached down the front of her shirt and pulled out her pendant. It was a cut and polished amethyst on a delicate silver chain, and had been a birthday gift from our uncle who was a rare-stones dealer. The amethyst was Cat’s birthstone, and she wore it almost every day, calling it her lucky pendant.
    But Cat didn’t usually wear her pendant inside her clothes or at night. I wondered why she had it now, but I soon found out. Reaching behind her neck and unlocking the chain, Cat took the pendant off and held it out to me.
    “I want you to have this,” she said. “For luck.”
    “Cat, I can’t.”
    “Please, Adrian. If they take you away... If I never see you again...”
    “You know I can’t wear that,” I said. “The chain is silver.”
    “Oh yeah,” said Cat, and slid the chain out of the hole in the stone. She placed the amethyst in my hand, saying, “Just keep the stone, then.”
    I slowly closed my hand around it. “Thanks, Cat. When things get back to normal, I’ll give it back, okay?”
    Cat smiled. “Deal!”
    I pocketed the stone, and we gazed at each other in silence for a minute.
    “Adrian...” Cat’s voice was barely audible.
    “Yeah, Cat?”
    “I love you.”
    I looked at her, startled. In all our years together, I don’t think either of us ever said those three words to the other. And suddenly I knew what Cat had meant when she accused me of feeling sorry for myself. She was just as scared as I was. Mom and Dad too, no doubt.
    “I love you too,” I mumbled awkwardly.
    “I am here.”
    The deep growling thought hit my head like a gong, reverberating through my skull. This time, I was ready.
    Grabbing the copper wire, I shouted to Cat, “It’s happening again! Get out, Cat! Get out of here now!”
    The ceiling lights flickered a few times, and then the room was plunged into darkness. The windowpane, replaced only three days ago, exploded inwards, showering us with glass fragments. A powerful gust of wind swept around the room, making papers and bits of trash fly around.
    Weakened by my contact with the wire, I could hardly stand up in the whirlwind that my room had become. Cat started to scream. I heard a loud crashing noise from what I thought was the living room.
    Someone was in the house!
    I dropped the wire. The headache wasn’t coming. This was different.
    “Cat! Addy!” Over the sound of the wind, I could just barely hear Mom frantically calling to us