The Gifted Soul Read online

  The Gifted Soul

  Avalon Hart

  Table to Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter 1:

  “Sophia Walters?” the woman on the stage called through a microphone. She had introduced herself at the start of the day as Mrs. Heath, one of the test administrators for the Sweep.

  The whole student body of Jefferson High had been gathered in the auditorium; one student being called up at a time to be tested if they had abilities they were hiding, or if they had latent talents that one of the institutes could help bring about to their full force. In the back of the dead silent auditorium stood the girl Mrs. Heath called. She swiftly made her way to the stage, careful not to touch anyone as she went.

  “Good, follow me. This way.” Mrs. Heath said, guiding Sophia to the right wing of the stage with her hand on the girl’s back. They left the auditorium through a side door that led them to a hall where Mrs. Heath took the lead. The halls had other test administrators guiding other students around. The tests were only administered until the end of high school, for by the time that humans reached maturity, it was highly unlikely that one would develop any sort of abilities.

  Sophia followed the woman without a word, knowing fully well what would happen once they reached their testing room. The Sweeps had only started being administered five years ago, when Sophia was in sixth grade. Now she was a junior, only two more tests then she would never have to take another Sweep again. She was already counting the days until she would be free.

  Mrs. Heath took Sophia into one of the biology labs, where the blinds were closed blocking out the outside world, and the test utensils were set up on the center table. The girl didn’t wait for instructions as she took her seat at the testing table waiting for the administrator to join her.

  “You seem eager Sophia.” Mrs. Heath commented as she sat her pad on the edge of the table. Taking her own seat, she folded her hands in front of her like those shrinks you see in old television shows.

  “It’s Sophie,” she corrected. “And only to get this over with. It’s a waste of my time.” She continued. Her posture was perfectly straight, eyes solely fixed on the jars of elements on the table: soil for Earth, water, air, and an unlit candle. She really didn’t want to be there, disliking the thoughts that forced their way into her mind from Mrs. Heath when she was guiding her off the stage.

  Another ungrateful child. They have no idea how much good we do.

  “Well, Sophie, shall we start.” Mrs. Heath said, taking her stylus off her electronic pad.

  Sophie suppressed an eye roll as she said, “You already have.”

  The woman raised a well-sculpted brow at Sophie as she wrote something on the screen of the pad. “What makes you think that?” She asked implying that Sophie had some sort of special insight, which wasn’t quite the case.

  “My uncle works closely with the P.R.U. so I know how this goes.” Sophie answered with a heavy sigh. All her tests had begun the same way since she was twelve; the conversations had gotten boring and useless with the passing years.

  The P.R.U. stands for Psychic Research Unit, the part of the government that finds jobs for people with special abilities, and is mostly run by psychics, which makes the normal humans feel uncomfortable that the psychics have so much power in society.

  “Oh really, which department?” Mrs. Heath asked, trying to keep the conversation casual.

  “Legal department.” Sophie simply answered.

  Mrs. Heath smiled kindly like they were warming up to each other. “I pass by there regularly. What’s his name, perhaps I know him?” She inquired politely.

  “Henry Fancher.” Sophie had to fight not to smile when she saw Mrs. Heath’s face drop. Her uncle was a prosecutor, who was often put up against the P.R.U. when someone wanted to sue a psychic for some matter that was covered by the law that was only a little over a decade old. Henry was well-known for winning most of his cases by some ridiculous loophole, or some fault the police did in collecting the non-physical evidence.

  Mrs. Heath took a moment to recompose herself before moving forward with the test. Sophie had been doing so well at blinking as little as possible that when she did, her eyes were assaulted by the bright colors coming from Mrs. Heath’s mood. When Sophie blinked, she saw swirls of yellow-orange with dots of light green. Mrs. Heath was anxious and annoyed, at the same time wanting to be right about Sophie. Her emotions were strong, almost enough to give Sophie a headache whenever she closed her eyes. It was her aura Sophie was seeing, and it only happened when she lowered her lids. In the darkness danced colors, like an artist splattered a few different paints on black canvas, but when it came to groups of people it would be a muddled mess, forcing Sophie to learn how to go extended periods of time without blinking.

  The test, which sounded difficult, was in truth rather simple if the taker cooperated. Sophie was asked to focus on different things to see if anything different happened, and when nothing did, Mrs. Heath moved on to the next part of the test. The test starts off with the administrators touching the takers to see if they can sense anything from them, and that’s the only part Sophie cannot fake no matter what. It is all up to the administrator whether the student feels like they may have some advanced human ability, but if the administrator cannot prove the child is psychic by the end of the test, then the child is dismissed of the previous suspicion, and Sophie had been relying on that every year that she had taken the Sweep.

  After all the questions and the experiments, an hour had gone by and Mrs. Heath was frustrated that she couldn’t prove anything with Sophie. She was led out of the bio lab and through the halls to the gymnasium where all the students who have completed the test and were cleared are gathered until the end of the day. The gym was much noisier than the auditorium, as the stress of being convicted didn’t hang in the air. Instead there was the aroma of food in the air - not from the cafeteria - from local fast food places as reward for passing the test. The worry that had been pressing down on Sophie’s chest was lifted as she entered the room and spotted her friends on the bleachers laughing and having fun. Sophie had started off towards them, but was pulled back by Mrs. Heath, whose mind was a jumble of annoyed thoughts.

  “Don’t think you’ve gotten away with this. I know you are gifted; you can’t deny it.” She said with a harsh glare.

  Sophie brushed off the hand that was still on her shoulder, the connection leaving her head feeling like it wasn’t hers, with Mrs. Heath’s heated thoughts plowing through it. “You are mistaken. Now have a nice day.” Sophie said, trying to remain polite before she walked away from her administrator and up the bleachers towards her friends.

  It was just the two of them, Cassie and Ian, and all together they made the three misfits of Jefferson High. Cassie dressed in the darkest clothes, trying to be goth to get attention from her large family, yet the clothes resemble the frilly and girly dresses that other girls normally wear. At heart, Sophie knew Cassie wanted to be pretty and colorful, but her need to make an impression with her family was stronger. Then there was Ian - tall, well-built, and blond - who was far too open about himself and his bisexual ways - that he had been shunned by the rest of the school. It also didn’t help that Jefferson High was in the more upscale area of Western New York, which meant people were more heavily judged on their pedigree - though Sophie had hoped the world had grown out of that with all the changes it was going through.

  “Sophie!” Cassie beamed when she caught sight of her friend climbing the steps. “You failed.” She smiled.

  “Congrats.” Ian smiled.

  Sophie let out a small laugh at her friends. The Sweep test was the only time anyone ever celebrated failing, and Sophie had purposely flunked it. “Thanks,” she said, sitting on the bench next to Ian, Cassie on the level below them.

  “You know, I wouldn’t mind having super powers.” Cassie said as she picked at a plate of nachos she had balanced on her lap. Sophie tensed up at the topic, not wanting to think about it anymore than necessary.

  “You know they’re not super powers, right?” Ian questioned. They all knew Cassie had bad grades in science, but they were never sure if it was because she didn’t understand it, or if she just ignored the lessons to stare at the cute boys in class. Sophie always leaned towards the latter. “It’s the evolution of the human brain. Humans being able to use more of it at once, that’s all.” He explained, brushing his curly blond hair from his face.

  Cassie waved her hand in the air, brushing off what Ian said. “Yeah, whatever, but wouldn’t it be cool? Telling the future, reading minds. I wouldn’t have to study ever again.” She spoke like an evil villain who had just had a brilliant idea.

  “You’d need an evolved brain for that, and I doubt you can get an upgrade for your current one.” Ian teased.

  As revenge, Cassie stuck her finger in the cheese sauce for her nachos and smeared it down his face. They all laughed until Ian turned to Sophie to clean up the mess, his not-so-subtle flirting making her feel awkward.

  “Help a guy out Sophie.” He begged, leaning his cheek towards her. “I don’t want it to stain my shirt.”

  Sophie hesitated with the napk
in in hand, feeling nervous about touching him. A touch through clothes was nowhere near as intense as skin-to-skin contact. What if my finger slips and I touch his cheek? I can’t risk seeing something he doesn’t want me to.

  “Won’t your boyfriend be jealous? What was his name again?” Cassie challenged, unknowingly coming to Sophie’s rescue.

  “Greg, and we broke up last night. Apparently he didn’t know I was a high schooler until I mentioned the Sweep test.” Ian shrugged.

  “What a jerk.” Cassie said with furrowed brows.

  “Whatever, pretty sure he was cheating on me anyway. Not much of a loss.” Ian shrugged it off. It was too casual for him that it made Sophie fear touching him even more. She didn’t want to see how upset he really was about his break up, or how it really ended. She could already see that Ian was in a depressed mood from the blues and purples in his aura, while Cassie’s was all reds and yellows.

  “Does this mean you want Sophie as your rebound?” Cassie teased.

  Ian smirked and turned to Sophie, his aura still dark and gloomy. “Will you help this broken knight, princess?”

  “I can’t.” Sophie replied avoiding his gaze. Sometimes it was hard to be friends with Ian, when he was constantly trying to convince her to date him.

  Ian opened his mouth to counter her statement, but it was overpowered by the voice on the PA system that could be heard echoing in the halls. “Sophie Walters to the front office. Sophie Walters, you are needed in the front office.”

  Cassie and Ian weren’t the only ones who turned to stare at Sophie, half of the gym joined them. It was unusual for anyone to get called out of a room during the Sweep tests. As Sophie got to her feet, her friends wished her luck with concerned expressions. There was no way Cassie could make a joke when they all were nervous and scared for Sophie’s fate. In the hall, Sophie got more weird looks from the administrators and their students, and in the back of her mind she hoped it was just her uncle dropping something off for her, but the odds of that were really slim. Sophie wasn’t even sure if Uncle Henry knew where her high school was.

  The silence in the hall was suddenly broken when a boy around Sophie’s age called to her. His voice seemed so loud in the stress-filled silence, but also relaxing. “Sophie?”

  She stopped to look down the hall and saw him with a friendly smile on his face. Sophie had never seen him before, but Jefferson was a big school, and she didn’t know everyone in her year because she was constantly trying to avoid people. “Yes?” She responded.

  “Good,” he said moving up the hall towards her. “I have to speak to you real quick.”

  Sophie stood frozen in the hall, confused.

  “Pleased to meet you.” He said holding out his hand.

  Sophie hesitated just long enough to mentally prepare herself for whatever would flash through her head, but the moment she grabbed his hand and shook it, nothing happened. No information, no second voice in her head, no tingling sensation on her skin where they had just touched. Blinking as she stared at her hand, she realized there was no color behind her lids, just the blackness everyone else would see.

  “Did you know that mind readers aren’t allowed to give the Sweep test because it is an invasion of one’s personal privacy and the result of mostly false answers?” he said as Sophie continued to stare at her hand. She was completely dazed, in shock that her abilities were suddenly gone. “But once the test is over, mind readers are free to look inside the mind of the students as long as the mind reader is also a student. It can be quite confusing but it’s a very effective loophole, don’t you think?” He smiled down at Sophie.

  “What?” She asked, still at a loss.

  “The name's Lyle Raider,” introducing himself as he lowered his head down to Sophie’s level. “Gotcha.” He whispered.

  Sophie’s eyes widened as her mind caught up to his words. Panic was quickly setting in as she backed away from him. “Just leave me alone. Please just let me stay here.” She begged as her heart sped up in her chest, and her palms became damp with sweat.

  “So you’ve been cheating the system for five years now, that’s quite impressive.” Lyle commented, obviously he was inside her head. Sophie knew that she couldn’t stop the thoughts that ran across the front of her mind. He would see everything she had been hiding from everyone around her. He would know about the things in her past that she wish she didn’t know. He would see it all.

  “Please, just leave me here. My abilities,” She paused realizing they were gone and tried to use that as a bargaining chip. “They’re gone. I don’t --”

  “They’re not gone,” Lyle interrupted her. “I’m suppressing them. It’s one of the talents I have,” he explained, stepping towards her. His hands were up like he was showing her that he wasn’t a threat, but to Sophie anyone who was going to take her away from the normal life she wanted so badly was a threat.

  Tears had sprung up in Sophie’s eyes as she continued to back away from Lyle down the hall. They were close to the front entrance, and she was sure that if she ran fast enough she could get outside and to her car before he could reach her. But that thought went out the window the moment it crossed her mind. Lyle now knew what she was going to do, and what her little Ford looked like.

  “I don’t want to go!” She cried at the top of her lungs. “I don’t want to be gifted, I want to be normal!” She turned and ran anyway. Running anywhere just to get away.

  Sophie didn’t get far. After her scream, people began flooding into the halls, curiosity being the humans' major flaw, wanting to see what was going on and blocking Sophie’s only escape route. They all gave her looks like they didn’t expect anything different from the quiet girl who avoided people like the plague. Sophie’s wardrobe never helped their impression of her either; she always wore sweatshirts so she could escape into their hoods, and the moment she was outside she would put on a pair of sunglasses whether it be day or night. She had been exiled as the Jefferson High freak since entering the school, now she was going to be caught because they wanted her gone. Tears blurred her vision as she spun around to see the boy with black hair and blocking abilities move towards her.

  “I don’t want to go to the institution.” She cried squatting down, hugging her chest to her knees and burying her face against her arms. “Please, I don’t want to go back! Please!”

  She could hear the whispering of rumors start. It wouldn’t take long for them to travel around the whole school, and for everyone to know what sort of freak Sophie really was. The tears streaked down her face and pooled against her arms as she stayed by the ground. It was all she could do, when hands grabbed her and tried to pull her up to stand. She fought against them as long as she could until something new broke through the hum of voices around her.

  “Cassie, it really is Sophie!” Ian’s voice called above the crowd.

  Sophie’s head snapped upward to look for them, wiping the tears out of her eyes while an administrator helped Lyle get her to her feet. Ian and Cassie had broken through the crowd only to stare at Sophie in complete shock that she was being taken away. An aching feeling took place in her chest as she saw the angry expression on Cassie’s face, and hurt on Ian's. Even without her ability to read auras, Sophie knew her friends were upset with her. Cassie, who dislikes lies more than anyone, would definitely hate her.

  “I’m sorry.” She choked out. “I-I just wanted to be normal.” She stuttered as Lyle and the administrator began pulling her through the crowd.

  They dragged her through the halls, the other students following until they made it out front. The administrator excused himself to get the car while Lyle was to keep a hold of Sophie so she wouldn’t run off. Only a few moments had passed when someone came bursting through the front doors of the school.

  “Sophie!” Spinning around, she saw it was Ian. “I just have to know why. Why did you lie?” He asked while Lyle’s hands tightened on her.

  “I didn’t want to leave you guys. I just wanted to be normal.” She answered, trying to hold back the tears.

  “Does this have anything to do with that time?” He asked slowly.

  Sophie closed her eyes and nodded. Cassie had always been nosy and never liked secrets, so in seventh grade she and Ian had managed to get Sophie to spill her past, about before she moved in with her uncle in New York. Sophie had made them promise to never talk about it, and she had built up a barricade in her head so she never would have to think about those times. Now looking at Ian, she could see his hurt expression slowly fade into one of concern, but definitely, there was still some stress between them.