Hey everyone. The Jimmy Awards (remember them?) are coming up, and I can't wait!!!! Basically my goal is to get an award and leave happy. Ha ha, it's not gonna happen. Can I say thanks to the people who comment (Kenzy, Maia, and Quinny that one time)??? I've been having so much fun writing and reading what you guys say in response. And if you haven't commented, please do.

May I take a moment to rub the fact that I'm homeschooled in all of you non-homeschooler's faces??? Yes, it rocks. How? Here's how. This morning I got out of bed and went downstairs to shut off my alarm. I was at the house with no one else except my mom (my sister slept at a friend's house, my brother slept at the neighbor's and my other brother decided on the spurr of the moment, as in that day, to go to Ohio with Dad). I went into her room and hung out in there for about twenty minutes before we got ready to leave. Then she drove me to the theater where I sat in the greenroom (the room where all the actors hang out, we had friends in the show) listening to the show (Anne Frank) from a speaker box over my head while doing school in the dark. Then for the next show I met up with some friends to watch the second show of the day. Then I went home and started school. Does my life rock??? Add a couple more shows and yes it does.

Right now I don't have anything to write about in particular, just wondering how (if you do) you guys get your blogs out into the world of internet. I'm still relatively knew to all this.

Right now my dilemma is getting my mother to believe that I've done enough school work to audition for the show Honk Jr.. What do you all think??? Just kidding, knowing that you have no idea about the situation I'm in, but I've got to make her cave... Hmm, and then the Jimmy awards are coming up... I still have to decide on shoes... And then I have to get ready for my friend from Ohio to come over (yay yay yay yay yay yay yay). What else is going on??? I haven't really had a chance to take anymore pictures of anything, so that's on hold... I haven't really written much... It's not raining.... I'm not in shows... I don't know... interesting times will come....

And yeah, I don't think I ever posted more of Keiran did I??? Well, here it is from the beginning.


Prelude:
Dear girls, my name is Macie. As a teenager, I had a normal life. Until that is, I met a boy. Not because he was cute (which he was) or charming (which he was) or sweet (which he was), but because he saved my life… multiple times. So I’ve written this book of my adventures with him so that you, as girls who are being saved by your Saviors can know that you’re not the only ones who are afraid, amazed, and confused.















Chapter one: Sometimes things happen. No one knows why, but still, things happen.

“Tally’s gone.” Dad said calmly as I walked down the stairs to the downstairs of the apartment that I lived in. He held onto the stair rails.
“Again?” I said, throwing my head back in frustration. Why did she always have to run away? Tally, my fourteen-year-old sister was always disappearing.
“Well what are you waiting for?” my dad asked. I knew what he meant, even though I wished I didn’t.
“Do I have to?” I asked, whining. Dad gave me one of those looks that only fathers can give their daughters. I sighed, and ran down the rest of the steps, throwing my hair up into a cute pony tail as I went, New York style.
I walked down into the entrance hall and grabbed my roller skates. It was Sunday, and the streets of New York City would be packed with tourists. Ugh.
I pulled them on and was off, flying down the streets. Now if I were Tally where would I be? The question almost made me laugh. Of course I knew where she was. She went there every time!
That’s the reason that I don’t think Tally really wants to run away, even though she acts like a punk rocker, with her dark wavy hair, and the way she always wears black jeans, shirts, shoes, and everything else. She always goes to the mall. I guess that it’s a great place to hide and everything, but she leaves all these obvious clues and tips. And yet I still had to go after her.
I rolled up to the mall after weaving my way through many pedestrians. In my backpack I had a wallet full of some money, an extra pair of shoes, and an extra pair of roller skates for Tally.
I found her in her favorite store, Abercrombie and Fitch. She was in the t-shirt section. I put my arm around her before she realized who I was. I had on my extra pair of shoes, so I was allowed inside. She gasped, but quickly realized what was happening.
None of this was new. Now Tally was struggling.
“Stop! Macie I told you, I don’t want to be brought back!” she yelled. People were starting to look confusedly now, tons of New Yorkers staring at us. I just pretended to laugh.
“Oh Tally!” I said loudly. “You’re so funny! Every time we come here, it’s the same joke!” I steered her outside. We walked out into the main food court and I sat her down at a table.
I stared at her for a while, and then when she still didn’t say anything, I did.
“All right, spill.” I demanded. “Why do you always do this? Not only does it waste your time, it wastes mine.” I said. I meant every word. I wanted to be doing something worthwhile with my time. It wasn’t like I had much of the weekend left. It was almost over. Dad usually let us stay out and shop for a little while, and I had already memorized the list of things that Mom needed at home.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I guess it just gets so tiring at home.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, looking at her.
“You just get everything.” She said, laying her head on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes. There was no way that was true. Tally was the younger, prettier, nicer, luckier sister. I told her so.
Well, after listening to her talk, I got that she was as typical a teenager as I was at her age, even though I’m seventeen now. So basically, I talked her out of ever running away again. Thank goodness. This would save us a lot of time and worry.
We went to some of the other stores, and spent some of our money. It was almost impossible to get anywhere though, with all the stupid tourists everywhere. That’s the only complaint I have about living in NYC. There are always people who don’t know what’s going on.
You get so many people who walk around in the ‘employees only’ section of the mall it’s incredible. We walked around too, spending our money in ways that would have astounded our parents. We walked out of the mall with so many different pairs of sunglasses and pairs of pants that we could have closed the store down if they hadn’t had a storeroom.
We stopped at the grocers on the way home. Unlike all the other stores that had been geared towards tourists for a while, this one was strictly for the real New Yorkers. I mean why would tourists go into a grocery store that they could go into at home?
We left, a couple bags heavier, having bought every thing on Mom’s simple list. Milks, eggs, juice, ice cream (we’d have to get home soon if we didn’t want it to be liquid cream). The usual things. Tally held her bags and I held mine.
I waited patiently as Tally strapped on her roller skates again, I had already donned mine. Then we were off, flying through the streets, faster than before.



I pulled up to school in my skates, my backpack on my shoulders. I pulled off my skates and put on my shoes. My hair was a mess, my outfit was messy, and I didn’t care. I watched Tally walk off to her class building, across the street, just to make sure that she actually got there this time, even though she’d went through an internal transformation since our little chat yesterday.
When she reached the building I went inside my own, stopping only briefly to help the newer kids find their buildings. I pulled my sweater out of my bag and over my head. They kept it so cold in this school.
I sat down in my first class. History. There was nothing new about this. We’d been studying the same thing in school for a while, and I’d aced every test. I looked around the class, knowing that everyone here was old and normal.
But I was wrong. Looking around, I noticed that someone else was here. Somehow I had a strange feeling that he was new, even though common sense told me I was wrong. I turned my head away from him, after noticing what nice eyes, hair, and face he had.
No. I told myself. Pay attention. This is class, not La-La Land. But I couldn’t help but being intrigued by this boy who wasn’t new, just new to me.
There was no way I was going to pay attention in class now, and I should have, even though I already new everything Ms. Marietta was teaching us. But who was this boy? He had dark hair, and dark eyes, and normal skin. He was wearing jeans and a dark t-shirt, nothing abnormal.
So why did I think he hadn’t been here before? I knew in my gut that he was a normal student here, he wasn’t a new kid, but why didn’t I recognize him? I knew that most kids in this school wouldn’t think twice if there was someone in their class that they didn’t recognize, but I noticed a lot.
I risked a glance over at the boy again. Now he was looking at me. I liked it. I didn’t know why, but I liked it. I quickly looked back to the front, but I couldn’t pay attention to the teacher. As soon as I thought I was safe, I looked back at the boy, but he was still looking at me. Why isn’t he paying attention?
He might ask you the same thing. Someone answered. It wasn’t me thinking it, or maybe it was, and it just made so much sense that it was as if it had come from someone who was totally different.
Stop it! I told my self fiercely. You have to pay attention! I shook my head mentally and tried to pay attention for the rest of class.


My next class was Math. It was easy for me, but it was new, so I paid attention. Thank goodness, because I didn’t realize until afterwards that New-To-Me Boy was in this class too.
I wasn’t paying attention until the teacher called “Math Quiz!!!!” the whole class groaned, but I didn’t. I was totally prepared for this. Why did everyone else procrastinate studying until the very last minute?
Lucy Miles (a girl who lived in the apartment next to mine a.k.a. the prettiest girl in school) passed me my test. I looked down at it.
Oh! I thought. I never imagined that a test could have been this easy. It wasn’t even on what we had studied today.
Needless to say, I passed the test with flying colors. Not everyone did though, much to my surprise. I got an A, and I was privately sure that I had done the best.
I walked out of class feeling buoyant and happy. Nothing could bring me down now. I had done well on my test, Tally wasn’t going to run away ever again, and I was happy.
On my way out I noticed that the Not-So-New Boy was here in this class too. Would he be in every one? He was looking at me again. I don’t know why, still, but I liked it. I didn’t want it to end. Of course I couldn’t stand there looking like an idiot much longer, so I went on my way down the hall.
My next class, Math, was pretty easy too, the only hard one was Geography, and that was the farther off in the day.
Next was lunch. This was the only stress free part of that day for me. I didn’t have to pay attention to anything, I got in line, got my food, and walked over to my table, milling over my day so far.
Like everyone else in this school, I had a self-designated table where I sat. Jilly, Camilla, Jessie, and Carson all sat at this table too. They were nice, but I really wasn’t in the mood to talk right now.
The boy was at lunch too, and he was looking at me again. It was so weird. I mean, every girl wants the guys to look at her, but this didn’t give the satisfaction that it should have. It was like somewhere in my gut I knew that he wasn’t looking at me because he thought I was pretty.
“What’s with you today Mace? You haven’t eaten anything!” Camilla commented. My head snapped down and I started shoveling food into my mouth, hardly noticing what it tasted like.
“I don’t know,” I said nonchalantly. Then I was struck with an idea. “Hey… Camilla, Jill… do you recognize him?” I nodded a small concealed nod in the odd boy’s direction. I looked over at him, and he was smiling, like he was sharing a joke with himself.
Their faces went kind of blank for a minute.
“Oh… yeah!” Jilly’s light face lit up with obvious recognition. I looked at the boy’s face, and his was lit up with obvious relief. Could he hear what we were saying from all the way across the loud cafeteria?
“That’s Keiran. Keiran Hill. He’s been here for, like, ever. How can you not know who he is?” she asked, like I should obviously know who this person was. And in my gut, I knew that I should know him too. So why didn’t I? My common sense was saying ‘Of course you know him! That’s Keiran Hill!’. But another part of me was saying ‘Keiran Hill? Who’s Keiran Hill?”. That part of me was winning.



“And the periodic table of elements starts here in the cycle,” Mr. Davis droned on and on, and I don’t really think anyone was listening. Before I moved here last summer I was in an advanced school where the eleventh graders were doing college courses. I had learned almost everything this school had to offer, but I couldn’t skip, it was illegal. It was worth it though, I love New York City.
I looked around class. Was he here?
Stop it! I told myself. You’re being stupid. It’s not like he’ll be in all of your classes. I was right. He wasn’t in my science class.
So, thanks to New Boy not being here and the fact that I had already learned this class by heart, Science was a drag.
Then there was Literature. The teacher for this class, Ms. Micah, was always late. I loved her though, and that was why this was my favorite class. It might also have something to do with the fact that I hadn’t really gone through the same Lit class as was given here.
I looked around, feeling sure that since the boy wasn’t in Science, he wouldn’t be here either. But he was. And… for some reason, I was happy about it. He was looking at me, and I liked it. Then all of a sudden I had the urge to stare at him, but also to look away at the same time.
Ms. Micah still wasn’t here, and I was hearing some of the newer students whispering. I took it upon myself to help them, because nobody else would.
“Um, do you guys need something?” I asked cocking my head.
“Yeah.” One of the braver ones answered. “We were wondering if this was Ms. Micah’s class, or were we in the wrong place???”
“Oh. Yeah, this is Ms. Micah’s place, she’s just running late. you might want to get used to it though, this class usually ends up being about ten minutes long.”
I meant it as a joke, but I don’t think they got it. They just stared at me like I was crazy, and then went back to there seats. I didn’t concern myself to much about it, I had already done my best to be nice.
I looked back over at the boy, and I noticed that now his look was admiring, almost approving. But what right did he have to be approving of me? He didn’t even know me.
But somehow you’re supposed to know him. This voice was half my own, and half the person that had been inside my head earlier. I looked quickly away.
Finally Ms. Micah walked into the room. It was time for a new unit to begin. This was the only time in school that I ever got really nervous. I absolutely abhorred learning the same things twice over, even though I’d had to get used to it. This was the only time that I really had to worry about it, because I knew what would happen next every other time.
My heart fell when I heard what we were reading this time. The Pearl, by Robert Steinbeck. I’d done that in eighth grade. Ugh.
To soothe my boredom, I looked over at the boy. He was looking at me still, but now he looked more like he was sympathizing with me, like he knew I was sad. Was it that obvious on my face? I tried to rearrange my features so that they were happier, but it didn’t seem to fool him.


He wasn’t in Geography, my next class. I had already learned this lesson in Geography once, but I hadn’t passed the unit, so I had been paying attention very well for the past couple of days. But today I was so focused that I had to give myself a pat on the back. I truly hadn’t though it was possible, but I did it.
My next class was P.E, and he was there. I did okay in that class, but it wasn’t like anyone expected me to be good. Then I had Composition and Grammar. Keiran was in that class also, and even though I had already learned the lesson, I wanted to pay attention. You see, I had figured something out about the way he stared at me. No matter how straight-forward the look was, it was odd, he didn’t look at me like Thomas Harold (the cutest boy in school) looks at Lucy.
It was like a parent watches a baby that’s just learning to walk on its own. The way he looked at me… it was almost protective.




Chapter two: Sometimes people don’t know what’s going on. But that doesn’t stop them from finding out.


“How was school today Hon?” my mother asked as I walked through the door pulling off my skates.
“Good,” I said nonchalantly, shutting the door behind Tally. I ran up the steps to my room, dropping my backpack on the floor.
That’s one thing about my mother that I value. She understands teenaged girls. She knows that if a girl simple says ‘good’ when asked a question, something’s wrong. But she knows better than to come up and interrogate me about it. She knows where I’ll go next.
After taking off my summer scarf and my sunglasses, and yanking a brush through my ponytail, I walked down the hall to Tally’s room.
“Hey.” Tally says when I opened the door, not looking up from her Mac desktop computer. “I figured you’d be in here soon. What’s wrong?”
Oh and another thing about Tally: you can’t hide anything from Tally.
I sighed. “Well, at school today… there was this boy…” how could I explain this to her without her thinking—
“Macie.” Tally whined throwing her head back with exasperation. “How many times can I tell you that your love life is messed up and you need to lay off the boys?” She asked me, turning away from her computer.
“Talls, it’s not that, it’s just that he was staring at me.”
“Oh.” She said shortly. “That’s it?”
“No. That’s not it. They way he was looking at me was weird, and it changed sometimes. It wasn’t like he liked me, it was like he knew everything about me. Sometimes he would look sympathetic, sometimes he would look proud, or pleased. But most of the time it was just like he knew what I was thinking…”
“Creepy stare, creepy person.” Tally said like it made all the sense in the world.
“Well what should I do? I have to go back to school tomorrow, and unless there’s some freak change in nature, he’ll be there too.”
“Give him one more day, and then if he’s still staring at you, talk to him on Wednesday.”
I agreed to it, and I left her to her computer. I couldn’t help but admire how calm she always was, how her wavy dark brown hair was never messy, and how her dark room was always pristine.
I laid down for bed that knight, wondering what I wanted. I couldn’t say that I wished he would stop looking at me, but I didn’t want to confront him either.
I don’t remember when I finally drifted off to sleep, but it was sometime after I decided that I didn’t want anyone, especially Keiran, to stare at me anymore.



The next day I wore some simple jeans and a t-shirt. I tried to look inconspicuous, and walked instead of skated to school. I decided that if I was going to avoid Keiran’s stare, I should try and be ‘quiet’ looking.
Don’t get me wrong though, I still looked cute.
I walked into school slowly, losing myself in the crowd. I went and dropped my backpack in my locker, and went to class.
First, was of course, history, and Keiran was in this class. I sat down at my desk, shadowing my face with my dark hair. I looked around though, and there he was, looking straight ahead at the blackboard, where Ms. Marrietta was writing out the homework that we would be given later.
I could have sung. I would have to confront Keiran after all. He wasn’t staring now, and I was pretty sure that he would never do it again, but I told myself to keep checking, just in case.
I paid attention to history that day, looking over my shoulder only once to check Keiran. He was staring straight ahead, unmoving, every time. Even though I had already learned the lesson, history was interesting because of my elation.



Math, p.e., lunch, science, and literature all went as usual with no stares from Keiran. Nothing happened until geography. He hadn’t been in this class yesterday.
Things change. A voice inside my head told me. It shocked me, and I sat bold upright. I hadn’t been thinking that, but clearly my subconscious mind was. I wished it would stop happening, it was starting to scare me.
But why was he here? I wondered to myself. He wasn’t here yesterday, why should things change? I tried not to pay much attention to Keiran, but it was hard. He didn’t stare at me though, so that was a welcome change.
In the middle of class, I decided to check Keiran, just to make sure he wasn’t looking of course, not for… any other reason.
This time though, I did it quickly, just a jerk of the head. That was enough to throw and catch him off guard. I realized that I had been obvious enough in my attempts to stop him from staring at me.
He’d been doing so anyway, and I just hadn’t known.

The rest of the day passed slowly, and I didn’t even try to stop Keiran from looking at me. I gave in, knowing that I would have to talk to him tomorrow anyway. I didn’t like it, but that was what had to happen. I had to know why he kept looking at me.
When I got home that day, Tally wasn’t home yet, Dad was still at work (he’s a geologist), but Mom was there. I decided to keep her in the dark with the Keiran situation, I mean, why should she worry?
Nothing was wrong yet, and I was fine, so there was no reason to say anything. When I got home, I got on my own mac desktop, identical to Tally’s.
I checked my gmail account. Three new messages. One from Jgurl4, Jilly, another from camicam1500, Camilla, and another from khsavior.
Wait. I double checked that last one. Who was khsavior? I didn’t open it, knowing that it could be some creep trying to see who I was. I opened the other two though, they were my friends, and I liked to talk to them about other things than school.
I read the one from Camilla first.
Hey Macie-mace! How r u? I was just wondering why u were so weird at lunch yesterday. Wut was up w/ u? it was so crazy! Do u like that Keiran dude? He is pretty hot huh? Idk, just wundering. Talk 2u l8ter, Cami.
I sighed. What could I tell her? Should I just spill it all to her and Jilly? What could happen if they knew? Nothing. Absolutely nothing would happen. You’re making a huge deal out of nothing. Boys stare at girls all the time. This isn’t different.
Yes it is. The voice that was and wasn’t mine retorted. Yes it is and you know it. I couldn’t ignore the voice, it was to practical.
I did know that it was different. I knew that from the start. I also knew that maybe my friends would be able to help me. So I wrote back:
Hey Cami. Idk why I was so wrd at lunch yesterday. The reason I was asking about Keiran was bcause he was staring at me all yesterday, and now 2day 2. Idk whether I like him or not. Whut do u know about him? Mace.
I knew that Camilla wouldn’t write back for a while, so I planned on not worrying if she didn’t email me for a few days. Then I went to Jill’s email.
Macieeeeeee! U were so weird at lunch, whut was up w/ u???? hahaha lol, I though u would pass out u looked so wrried. Why? And why were you asking about Keiran??? Idk anything about him, but do u like him? ☺ Jill.
She was so straight forward that it made me laugh. I mean, her second sentence said what Camilla’s whole email said. I emailed her back pretty much the same thing that I said to Camilla, only I knew that I would get a reply from her a lot faster.
Now there was only the email from kh savior. I was afraid to open it, but I didn’t want to delete it, just in case it was important.



The first part of the next day was miserable. I knew what I had to do, but I didn’t want to do it. In truth, I didn’t even want to go to school. I’d tried everything.
I’d slept in late, but my mom came and got me. I said I felt sick, but my mother insisted that I looked fine. I did many other things too, but there’s no reason to list them here.
So, I ended up here, in p.e., with Keiran watching me. I didn’t even dare look at him now, knowing that I would have to face him at lunch.
I got so distracted that I almost forgot that I was on a rope, suspended ten feet in the air. I misplaced my foot on the rope, and that was the end.
I felt myself sliding and sliding, falling. Even though I wasn’t that far off the ground, the floor felt hard, and my hands burned. When I looked at them, I saw that they were bleeding, and that they had little pieces of rope stuck in my hand.
I couldn’t breathe, the air had been knocked out of me, and my hands hurt. It was hard to see, things were slipping in and out of view, and I was tired of trying to see. The nurse was here now, it felt like it had only been seconds since I fell. How could she be here already?
“—don’t know, she fell.”
“—her hands, we have to get the rope bits out.”
“—landed on her ankle funny. Do you think it’s broken?”
But only one voice really made it through clearly, and it was a voice that I had never heard before. It was a boy’s voice, not much older than myself, but smarter sounding, like he was years older in his mind.
“Macie? Macie, can you hear me? Are you okay?” I wanted to tell him that I was, but I couldn’t find the strength. “Somebody call her parents and 911!” he said, as though it was obvious that something had to be done.
I heard the vague sounds of everyone scrambling for their phones.
Before I knew it, the anonymous voice was being asked to carry me towards the ambulance.
Why? I though. I can’t feel any pain. And that was true. My whole body was numb, and I couldn’t feel anything but cold. So why were they taking me to the hospital? I don’t need it! I thought.
Yes you do. The mine-but-not voice said. You need it very much. But somehow the voice was more familiar now. It wasn’t scary anymore because I knew the voice from somewhere else. It was a voice who cared. The anonymous voice, but in my head, in the form of my thoughts. Who were they?


When I woke up, I wasn’t comfortable. I had questions all around my head, buzzing and bouncing. There was a tight pressure on my ankle, which I could feel was throbbing uncontrollably. My hands felt like they had been scraped with needles multiple times, and I had a headache. It took me a while to realize where I was and what had happened.
I groaned.
“Oh Honey… are you okay?” asked someone from my bedside. Mom. She was here?
“I don’t know, am I?” I answered truthfully. Someone else laughed. Dad. He was here too?
“Well, your ankle’s broken, your hands are all cut up, and it looks like you hit your head pretty hard, but you’ll heal.”
“That’s nice,” I said, turning to face them. I felt a little tug, and realized that I was connected to a big beeping machine, but just by what I really didn’t want to figure out just then.
“How do you feel Mace?” My dad asked.
“Like I got hit by a truck. Several times.” I said, laying back down on my back.
“Well, you’ll be out of school for a bit, I’ll tell you that. But you won’t be home either.” My Mom told me. I got what that meant. I’d probably be hanging here for a while.


















Chapter three: And then sometimes there are people who want to know up front what’s going on. Those are the people who get bad news in painful ways.

My time in the hospital wasn’t too bad. My friends came to visit me, I got flowers, cards, and balloons, and there was no Keiran to stare at me. There was no anonymous voice in my head, because if I can admit it, I was asleep for almost two weeks straight.
The first day back in school I decided to give Keiran one more chance.
But are you giving him another chance, or are you giving yourself one? The not-my voice said. And again I supposed it was right, no matter how much I hated it.
That day at school was anything but normal. I went through so much of ‘Oh it’s great to see you!’ and ‘Thank goodness you’re okay!’ I didn’t even know that that many people in this school knew who I was.
It was silly, but now not only was I looking for Keiran, but I was looking for the voice. You’re being silly. I told myself. No you’re not. Said my other. The voice was familiar… safe.
Keiran was there, in all of my classes, staring at me like I had on a see-through shirt. But the voice was still anonymous… I didn’t know who it belonged to.
By lunchtime I was done. I might not know what to do about the voice, who had been so nice when I had fallen, but I had to talk to Keiran. It was like he knew things about me that even I didn’t know.
I needn’t have worried about how to get to Keiran, he came to me.



You’re being an idiot. I told myself as I walked into the lunch room. No you’re not. The other voice said. But I knew that, for once, this voice was wrong. I was obsessing over something that I wasn’t even sure was true. This wasn’t right. Yet here I was, paying the lunch lady, and silently scanning the room at the same time.
A hand shot up as I watched, and started to wave. I didn’t pay much attention to it until I realized that Keiran was waving, and he was waving at me.
I walked slowly over to him. I ended up standing behind the bench that stood opposite his.
“Can I… sit down?” I asked awkwardly. I sound like an idiot. I told myself. No you don’t. The other voice told me. I didn’t believe it.
“Of course,” he said courteously. His voice sounded familiar. Safe. His voice sounded exactly like the one that had worried so much when I was hurt. I wanted to fling my arms around him and thank him for caring, do something nice for him, but instead I smiled and set down my things.
I looked down at my plate and started to pick at my food. I could feel Keiran staring at me the whole time. I didn’t get very far with my food before Keiran bit his lip, sighed, and started to talk.
“Listen, Macie… what I’m going to tell you won’t make sense, you won’t believe me, and you’re going to think I’m crazy. You have listen, it’s the truth, and you need to hear it.” He said slowly. I didn’t know how to respond, I said what I was thinking.
“Um, okay.” I said shrugging.
“I’m… well, I come from a family… and we have a special job. My last name isn’t really ‘Hill’. It’s Savior. Kind of. I’ll explain that later. But our job is to protect the world from the Seekers, who are kind of like the bad-guys in a fairytale.
“Seekers are a huge family, but we’re not… well we’re not all related. Some of us don’t even know each other. But exactly half the population are Saviors. Each Savior is born at the time of his or her… I don’t know what to call it, but they are born at the same time as the people who they have to save.”
He was right, I didn’t believe him.
“So you’re telling me that every person in this room has a, uh, Savior?” I said, looking at the nerd table. If anyone needed a helper, it was them. I mean, if this was all true, then they wouldn’t walk out of the bathroom with their heads smelling like toilet water.
“Yes, but they’re not always needed. Some Saviors get to live their lives out without even knowing what they are. But others have to save their… their person. Like me.”
“Well, why are you telling me this? Who’s your person?” I asked. I felt like I should have known. But I didn’t. Keiran stared at me again, but now it was just incredulous.
“Oh…” I said, surprised. “But why do you have to save me? I’m not anything special, I don’t plan on helping to destroy the world or anything.”
“Destroy the world? Macie, that’s not what they want to do. They want to study it.”
“What?” I asked.
“They don’t want the world to be destroyed. The Seekers aren’t human, they come from an alternate universe. Thousands of years ago, a Seeker got lost in space and ended up here. He was intrigued in the weak things that they called Humans. They want to experiment on us, not destroy us.”
“Oh… would I know of any one that was a Seeker?” I asked him. I didn’t believe him yet, but I was on the fence. He seemed to really believe what he was saying.
“Think about it. When or who would have helped with the ‘experiments’?” His emphasis on the word experiments scared me. He made it sound like they weren’t really civil. Then it hit me.
“Hitler.” I said shortly. “Hitler and the Holocaust.”
“Exactly.” He said softly. “In the 1940s it was Hitler. He helped the study by throwing a dart and choosing a people.” I gasped. “Figure of speech, Macie. He chose the Jews, and he put them all in concentration camps. Then they were easy to study.
“And then, even later in history, A. Mitchell Palmer helped to create the Red Scare. His dart landed on people in general. He just rounded up a bunch of folks and said ‘Okay you’re coming with me and we’re going to shove you all in jail and study your minds.’ And there’s no doubt that it will happen again. Soon, if you ask me.”
“But don’t people learn history to keep away from there past mistakes? Why do you have to protect me?” I asked. My head was bursting with questions, and I couldn’t answer them.
“Like I told you, the Seekers aren’t human. They don’t learn history, they make it. As to why I have to protect you, Seekers go after the people that are most likely to go against them, make it harder. They go for the nice, innocent people. Like you.”
“Oh. How do they know who is good and who is bad?” I asked.
“They read minds.” He said shortly, like it made him bitter to think about it. “We’re so like them it makes me forget sometimes. Forget how hard it can be to choose the right thing to do.”
“They read minds?” I asked incredulously, choosing to ignore the bitterness in his voice. I didn’t like it, but I was beginning to believe him. “And if you’re so like the Seekers, can you read minds too?” I asked. I probably should have wondered that if he was so much like them, if he was a good person, but he was so reassuring somehow, I didn’t even think to worry.
“No. We… we read emotions.”
“Oh.” Now I believed him fully. How else would he have been able to tell how I felt? All those times when he had looked at me like he could see right into my mind… in a sense, he could.
“Do you believe me?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Is that why you were staring at me?” I blurted out. “So that you could make sure I was safe?”
“Yes.”
“Is that how you could look at me like you knew what I was thinking? Because you can read emotions?”
“Yes,” he winced as he said it.
“I have one more question.”
He smiled at me. “I don’t think that’s true.” I scrunched my nose, knowing he was right.
“When I first saw you… I didn’t recognize you. I know most everyone in my classes, but not you. But then when I asked about you, everyone looked at me like everyone knew who you were. I didn’t think about it at first, but… were you here before a week ago?”
“No.”
“Allright, one more, maybe two.” I said, giving in. He laughed. It was a nice sound, and it healed all the doubts that I had had before. I believed him now, just because his laugh made me want to laugh with him.
“Why? Why is it that they all think that you’ve been here forever, but I didn’t even know your name?”
Keiran bit his lip. “Well, I have theories. I think it’s because you’re so individual.”
“Individual?” I asked him.
“Yes. Everyone else believes what the Saviors want them to believe because they’re afraid to think otherwise. They think that if they show that they’re different, they’ll be laughed at, ridiculed. You weren’t afraid of that, and so you could see clearly.”
It made sense to me… sort of. “All right. Last one. When I think something negative about myself, or something along those lines, a… voice… would tell me to stop. It would tell me to be nicer, or tell me what I knew was true.” I sounded so stupid. No you don’t.
I gasped. The voice inside me head didn’t change, but I knew who it was now. My head snapped up from the table that I had been staring at, to look at Keiran. He pressed his lips together.
“How do you do that?” I asked.
“Once a person that is being taken care of by a Savior sees their Savior by the first time, the Savior can help them make the right decisions. It’s not that they can here what you’re thinking,” he said quickly. “It’s just that they can feel the negative energy coming from you. And they try to stop it. The more negative you are, the easier the time the Seekers will have recruiting you. Basically, we’re connected.”
Hmm, I liked how he said ‘we’. Is that way to cliché? “How will I know when they come to recruit me? You said that they were humanoid.” I asked.
“You won’t need to. I’ll right with you from now on. Now that I’ve met you, I’ll be able to read how you’re feeling from anywhere. But I’ll most likely be around most of the time.”
That gave me kind of a flutter inside. I hadn’t said anything yet, but he was so good-looking. His dark hair went with is dark clothes and muscular body. His eyes were a dark blue, almost black. But he hadn’t answered my question.
“But how will I know?” I asked. “I want to, even if I don’t have to.”
He winced. “Well, to Seekers, they look like withered old bodies, empty of everything but hatred. To humans, it varies. It depends on how they feel. If they’re angry, bitter, or sad, the Seekers will look like the prettiest person that they’ve ever seen. Or else they look very close to someone that they love. If they are kind, loving, happy people,” he gestured to me. “Then they look like horrible old people who have no life or love.”
They way he described them made me get the goose bumps. This was the weirdest thing I had ever heard. But yet I believed him. What I didn’t believe was that he was pegging me on the nice side. But I wasn’t nice. I mean, I wasn’t rude, or bad, but I was mediocre, like most people.
But, thinking back to what he had said earlier, the fact that he would be hanging around with me a lot more shouldn’t have pleased me as much as it did.




Chapter four: Not everyone knows what kind of person they are, and not everyone will find out. I’m still learning.

“Macie where did you go during lunch today?” Jilly whispered to me during science.
“You’re not going to believe me.” I whispered back, knowing that this would catch her. She loves gossip.
“Tell me!” she insisted.
“All right. I was sitting with Keiran… Hill.” I guess I was supposed to call him that around other people. People who don’t know about Seekers and Saviors.
Jilly gasped.
“Girls,” Mr. Davis said, directing his attention to us, sitting in the middle of the class.
“Sorry Mr. Davis.” Jilly and I said in unison.
“Later.” I whispered to Jilly. She got the message loud and clear.
And she found out too. As soon as I walked into literature, Ms. Micah being late as usual, Jilly ambushed me.
“Oh my gosh I totally knew it!” she said, making no effort to speak quietly.
“Knew what?” I asked her.
“You and Keiran…” she looked at me, her eyes finishing her sentence.
“No, Jilly, I—“ but I was spared having to answer because at that moment something strange happened. A tray landed on the empty spot on the table.
I mean, it wasn’t that people didn’t come and sit at our table sometimes, but it was who was attached to the tray that was different.
“Hey Macie,” Keiran said normally.
“Hey Keiran,” all my friends said like this was totally normal. I just stared. I decided to play along.
“Hi.” I said, unwanted pleasure coursed my veins. He smiled. He was pleased that I was happy that he was here. I liked him. even then, I liked him.
“How are you?” he asked.
“Good.” I answered. The rest of our conversations were pretty simple and easy, except for the ‘knowing’ glances that I kept getting from Jilly and the blissfully oblivious ones from Camilla.
Or so I thought. As soon as Keiran stood up to go slowly to his next class, Cami ambushed me.
“So are you going out yet?” she asked me.
“Um… Keiran? No.” I answered honestly.
“Are you sure?” she asked me, obviously milking for details.
“Yes!” I said, not being able to help the smile forming on my lips.
“That’s a total lie,” she said, but she gave up anyway. “Well do you like him?” she asked me.
“Well duh!” I said, getting back to my normal teen-iaity.



Everything went normally for most of the rest of the day. Well, normal besides the fact that I had a teenager my age insisting that people were trying to do inhumane studies on the earth.
I walked into P.E, to find out that today was going to be a period of running… all of us. Needless to say, Keiran caught up with me pretty soon.
“How are you?” he asked me.
“It hasn’t been so long since you asked me the same question.” I joked. “I’m still fine. You?”
“Same as usual. Except for they’re getting closer.”
“They?” I asked him, puzzled.
“Come on Macie. Who would I be talking about?” I didn’t have to read emotions to tell that Keiran wasn’t just my savior, he was my friend, and he wanted me to be safe.
“Oh… what should I do?” I asked.
“Leave it to me. Can I come over later? And meet your family?” he asked me, biting his lip.
“Of course. But as who? I mean, as a friend, as a study partner, as a boy who’s out to save the world from concentration camps…”
“You’re going to laugh at me.” he said.
“No I’m not.” And I wasn’t. Even though I could see where this was going.
“It would be easier if you could just introduce me as your boyfriend.” He lowered his voice. “The Seekers are close, so I’ll be around even more now. Sorry. But thank goodness they’re not just looking for people to recruit.”
“What are they looking for?” I asked, worried now, my brow almost as tight as his. I was trying to keep up to his fast pace, and we were far ahead of the group now. What did we look like to them?
We look like two people who like each other. That’s all. It’s high school, this is allowed. And I guess Keiran was right.
Okay. I told him silently. Did it work both ways? That would be helpful if the Seekers ever did come for me.
“They’re looking for a place to hold the concentration camps, if you want to put it that way.” He said flatly.
“Oh.” I said. “Keiran?”
“Yes?” he raised his eyebrows at me, anticipating whatever obvious question was coming next.
“I was wondering… you know the thought deal? How you can read my mind?” I asked him
“I can’t read your mind. “ he said like he was trying not to yell at me.
“I’m sorry. What I meant to say was you know how you can… stop me from being negative? Does that mean that you can hear things if I want you to hear them? If we were connected like that?”
“Well, it depends. We would have to be connected in other ways to. Not just our mind. It would have to be in our heart too.”
I blushed. He just smiled, but I could tell that he was almost thinking the same thing. I was starting to sweat now, but Keiran wasn’t even breathing hard. I felt so weak.
You’re not weak. I’ve just had practice… you know, I had no choice. This message was so much more personal than any one I’d gotten yet. I liked it, and stored it away in my mental archives.
Can you hear me? I thought as hard as I could. I couldn’t do it. Not yet. I told myself. And you don’t know how he feels about you. He might not want your thoughts in his head.
Yes I do. I do want that. I want it very much. The first person dialogue was wonderful. It shouldn’t have meant so much but it did. This message brought not only a fresh blush to my already red face, but also a question to my bursting brain.
“Keiran?” I asked.
“Yes?” he said laughing. “You ask questions. You’re not afraid of answers. I like it.”
“When you… cheer me up… do you know what you’re saying? Do you know what I’m saying?”
“Not word for word. I only know generally what you’re upset about. Or happy about.” I pressed my lips together. “But yes, I know what I’m saying, even though most of it comes from my heart, not from my mind.”
“Oh…” I said, feeling sheepish. “Okay. Can you feel everyone’s emotions, or just mine?”
“Just yours.”
“I feel special.” I smiled. He laughed.
“So, are you coming home from school with me? Or would you have to go and talk to your parents first?”
“No… my parents won’t mind me being gone… do you remember what I told you about Seekers that first day? About how they get completely focused on their… friends?”
“Yes.”
“Well, my mother was a Savior. Her subject, excuse my phrasing, was my father. So, they pretty much pay attention to each other… and now I pay attention to you.”
“Oh… Um. Okay. The only problem would be that I skated to school today. I was born a skater.” I shrugged.
I looked at me sheepishly. “When I realized how much you skated, I kind of bought my own pair…”
“Perfect!” I said. “I’ll see you after school.”
“Um, you’ll see me much sooner than that.” He said, as coach blew the whistle and the class stopped running.
“What do you mean?” I asked him, confused.
“Well, now that I know that they’re close, you’re going to be seeing a lot more of me. We still have Geography, Grammar and Composition, and then the Skate home.”
“Okay. But what am I supposed to say when my friends ask me why I’m hanging out with you all the time?” I asked, hoping for something I knew he wasn’t going to say.
“You’re going to hate me for saying this, but the easiest solution is to say that I’m your new boyfriend.”
I flushed, and stayed flushed, all the way back to the locker rooms. I thought about it.
He doesn’t really want to be your boyfriend, it’s just a pretext.
No it’s not. Don’t think like that.
But why would he want me? I know that he thinks I’m nice, but I’m not. I’m not pretty, funny, smart—
Yes you are.
Thank you.
I’d never really carried on a conversation with Keiran in my head before, it was nice, so easy and fluid, like I didn’t have to worry that what I said was wrong. I walked out of the locker rooms refreshed. And surprised.
Keiran was waiting for me right outside the locker room door.
“Ready to go?” He asked me.
“Um, sure. Where?” I asked him.
“Lunch.” He said, as if I should know. And I should know, it was just that… the answer was so normal, so… simple. Like nothing else in the world.



“So how was your P.E.?” asked Camilla, knowing perfectly well, seeing as she had been behind me and Keiran the whole time.
“Fine.” I said nonchalantly. What else could I say? Keiran sat next to me. I nudged his leg. Say something! I urged him silently. If any time would be great for him to realize that he could hear me inside his head too, now would be it. Say something or we’re dead as dead can be.
No we’re not. Keiran told me. We’re fine. If anything we just tell her that we’re dating.
“So what were you talking about?” Camilla whispered to me, making sure Keiran didn’t hear.
“What do you mean?” I asked, louder than I had meant to.
“You and Keiran!” she said louder now, exasperated. “Why were you two so far ahead of us? It was like every step you two got closer, and closer, and closer, closer…” she went on and on, illustrating with her hands. I laughed. We did??? I guess I hadn’t been paying attention to what I was doing. It had all felt so natural.
The rest of the school day I had the most fun I’d ever had. As it was almost Christmas break, all of the classes were simple and easy. All review. By the time school ended I was so nervous I didn’t know what to do with myself.
I mean, Keiran wasn’t really my boyfriend, but I was saying he was, and that made me nervous. I’d never been a bad liar, but I’d never even dreamed of telling an actual lie. I mean of course the ‘Oh of course those pants don’t make you look fat!’ or ‘Oh I did that, not Tally.” Never anything huge.
I met Keiran outside my last class.
“Ready to go?” I asked him as he came out to meet me, skates in hand.
“Of course.” He said. We walked outside, strapping on our skates on a nearby bench.
“Can we take the longer route?” I asked him, “Talk a while?”
“Whatever you want, Mace.” Keiran said. It was the first time he’d ever called me ‘Mace’ before. It was nice, like this somehow made him even more of a friend.
I stood up, waiting for Keiran to finish strapping on his shoes. He took an unusually long time. And longer.
“Keiran?” I asked him. I watched him try in vain to strap on his shoes… the wrong way. “Keiran you’ll never get there like that.” I said, bending down. “Here.” I did the skates up for him.
“Uh, thanks…” he said, trailing off. He stood up shakily, and I pushed off.
Chrash! I whirled around. What was that? I skated over to the crumpled pile on the concrete.
“Oh my god are you okay?” I asked Keiran.
“Oh… yeah.” He said clumsily. I held out my hand. He hesitated, but took it anyway and I pulled him up. Once he was finally on his feet, it struck me how funny that had been.
Needless to say, I broke into a stupidly random peal of laughter.
It’s not stupidly random, it was funny! Keiran’s voice said in my head.
Stupidly random in a good way. I said, finally used to the voice that wasn’t mine in my head. I helped Keiran off, and then we were flying down the streets. But just to our misfortune, the fall-ish sky decided to cloud over and cry frozen tears.
“So I finally found it.” I said.
“Found what?” Keiran asked me. Now he was the one asking the questions.
“Found the thing that I can do that you can’t.” I shrugged. “I thought the day would never come.” Keiran laughed.
“And exactly why not?” he asked me.
“I don’t know, you’re perfect. You’re smart, fast, strong, you read emotions, you’re cu—“ I stopped dead on that one. My face went red, my hands went red, I sped up.
When Keiran caught up with me he looked straight ahead. We were passing Central Park when I asked it. The question I’d been thinking.
“What am I supposed to say when we get home?” I asked. It didn’t come out as a question. It came out as a dead comment. I was dreading the answer. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t lie. I wasn’t good enough.
No Macie, you aren’t bad enough.
“I’ll tell you what to say.” He said simply. I got what it meant. Our bond was getting stronger. We could think on almost the same track now. He could tell me whatever he wanted through our minds. I didn’t mind, I liked it.
“Can I tell you things too?” I asked him.
“I don’t know. Have you ever tried?” he asked me.
“Well…” I trailed off. He laughed.
“Try again.” He encouraged.
“Okay…” I bit my lip. If I weren’t flying on wheels, I would have closed my eyes. Can you hear me? I asked. Or rather I thought. Hard. Keiran? I asked him. I’m talking to you. finally I gave up.
I looked at Keiran. Nothing was different, except he was a little wobbly on his wheels with concentration. Keiran opened his eyes.
“I could feel you trying for a minute there, but I couldn’t tell what you were thinking.” Keiran told me.
“It’s okay, we’ll try again later.” I said, not really wanting to ever try again. I could just tell him everything he needed to know.
“You don’t have to.” He said, taking my hand. I was surprised that I even noticed that his skating got noticeably better when he did it. I was surprised I could think straight enough to skate any where other than into a pole.
We weaved in and out of the crowd, holding hands as we skated. I was in heaven. I decided that maybe he did want to be more than just a friend after all, that I wrong about him earlier. All I knew was, I wasn’t going to let him let go easily.


Chapter five. Sometimes, people who are learning have to learn from other people. Sometimes they have to guess.

I reached the front door of my house.
“Okay, Keiran. My mom? Just call her Ms. June. And dad? To you he’s Mr. Daniel. And Tally is just Tally. Got that?”
“Of course. Ms. June, Mr. Daniel, and Tally.”
“Perfect memory. Why am I not surprised?” I mumbled as I went to open the door. “Mom?” I yelled. “Dad?”
but it was Tally who got down the stairs first.
“Hey.” She said, not even looking at me. she was looking at Keiran.
“Tally, this is Keiran. Keiran, this is Tally.”
“Um… hi.” Tally said to him. “Can I steal our little Macie away for a minute?” she said, sugary sweet, as she grabbed my arm and hauled me into the kitchen.
“What is he doing here?” Tally asked. “Isn’t he the one with the creepy stare and everything?”
“Well, it was kind of creepy at first, but it’s not anymore. And besides, I know now why he was staring at me.”
“Why? Because he liked you like I told you he did?”
“Um… yeah.” I said, quickly turning my relief into sheepish looks. I hoped it worked. It did. I think. She rolled her eyes and led me back to the stair well.
“Sorry, that was necessary.” Tally said with a fake sweetness that I was sure was detectable. I glared at her. No it wasn’t.
don’t go off on her, Mace.
Fine. I said with an inward sigh of exasperation. Keiran bit back a smile.
“Mom and Dad aren’t here.” Tally said shortly.
I shouted at myself inwardly. Of course they weren’t here! The one day that I was able to do something fun and I’m not allowed to do it because Mom and Dad weren’t here.
Calm down Macie.
I can’t calm down! I was really excited! I mean, I thought for a minute that you and I… I couldn’t finish my sentence. Keiran told me again to calm down. I sighed again.
“Would you two excuse me?” I asked Keiran and Tally. “I’m gonna go call Mom.”
“Of course.” Keiran said with a smile. Tally shrugged and rolled her eyes at me.
I walked into the kitchen, grabbing the phone with such force that I knocked the cradle off of the counter. I stomped my foot, getting so angry and not knowing what to do with it.
Don’t you hate hormones? A voice asked me. It was Keiran of course, but it was different. It was like… it was more personal, more as if he was talking to me for fun.
I liked it. I laughed at myself, knowing he was right. I was being a stupid teenager. The kind that you always yell at in movies, even though they can’t hear you.
I punched in the number I knew so well and waited. The phone rang and rang until I was afraid that no one would answer. Just when I was going absolutely crazy, the phone clicked on.
“Oh hi Honey!!!” my Mom said unbeatably. No matter how ticked I was, I couldn’t help but smile at her voice.
“Listen. I have a frind over. His name is Keiran. Can he stay for dinner? He wanted to meet you.”
“A boy?” my mother’s voice rose to a shrill pitch. I dissected it carefully. Happy and excited, but nervous and worried at the same time. I smiled.
“Yeah. Can he stay?”
“Of course Hon, and we’ll be there in a second.” In the background I heard my mom hell something to the effect of ‘Step on it!’.
“Okay Mom, see you soon.” Click. She hung up the phone. I smiled as I walked back into the hallway, feeling almost as buoyant as I ever had.
“Okay Tally, Keiran’s fine to be here. Thank you for your concern.” I said, rubbing Mom’s answer in her face.
Don’t be mean. Keiran said. But now that we were friends, maybe even better friends than either of us could imagine, he had changed the tone of his voice. It wasn’t so serious and knowing. Now it was playing with me, messing with me, but all the while making sure that I was being nice.
I smiled at him, letting him know that I had received the message. I took his hand and led him into the living room: two green suede couches, a wooden coffee table, a wall of bookshelves and a TV. I handed Keiran the remote and sat down next to him on the couch in front of the TV.
He switched it on and turned to the news, CNN. A reporter was talking about huge storms in Haiti that were tearing the poor nation down. After that came how Mr. President was doing everything all wrong and how we would never get out of the economic spot we were in.
Then there was something worth watching. Something that no one else but Keiran would have ever paid attention to. His body tensed up, and I looked at his face for answers. He didn’t look at me, he just stared at the screen, his face a mix of horror and revulsion.
I looked at the screen as well. On it was a picture of three men. These men were recently seen around several people’s houses just outside New York City. No one knows exactly what went on there, but no more and no less than three hours later the residents of those houses disappeared. Seven people in all, Katie Mira, Max Notation, Natalia and Nathan Red…
I stopped paying attention. I didn’t want to look at the innocent and smiling faces of the people who were to help ruin the world with what my history teacher used to call ‘pseudo-science’. He had no idea.
“What?” Tally asked Keiran dryly. “Natalia your girlfriend?”
“Of course not, I’ve never heard of her or anyone else in that group. It’s just horrible that this had to happen.” He answered. It wasn’t a lie, I knew as much. What was Tally doing? Why was she being so hateful? Well one thing was for sure, the Seekers would never come for her.
Macie…
I know… I know… But I didn’t know. I was bursting with questions. Were those people in the pictures being held hostage by Seekers? Were the ‘aliens’ behind all that? Why? What would Keiran and I do to stop them? And most important, when would they come for me?
I couldn’t ask Keiran now. Tally was still here, and Mom and Dad would be back any second now.
Ding-Dong
The Witch is dead. I thought as the bell rang, as if on cue. I took a deep breath and stood up. I touched Kieran’s stone-still shoulder lightly as I walked to greet my parents. Not much, just lightly enough so that he knew it was time. Time to shake off the unsaid fear and face what had to be done.
I felt bad about what I was about to do, knowing that when I introduced Keiran to my parents he was going to get the initial introduction. The long one.
“Mom, Dad!” I opened the door for them, standing back while they walked in. They both had an armful of groceries, but it looked like that was the extent of their ‘loot’ as I used to call it.
We walked into the kitchen so they could put the food away.
“So what’s his name?” my mom asked. Really my parents weren’t as bad as most, they just wanted to look out for me. Well, no, my mother really was interested.
“Keiran,” I said, really trying not to smile now. She knew she was hitting a nerve.
“He’s seventeen?”
“Yes.”
“You know, I feel like I don’t even need to talk to this one.” My dad chimed in.
“And why on earth not?” I asked him, taken completely off guard.
“Keiran Hill? His father is a doctor and his mother is a nurse. They work with me and your mother.” My father said like it made all the sense in the world. And I guess if it had been any other boy it would have. It just sounded so… normal.
“Of course.” I said, trying to recover.
“Well what are we doing in here?” asked my mother, putting the last of the dishes away. “Lets go say hello.”
I walked back into the living room and sat down next to Keiran, taking his hand where my parents couldn’t see it. He understoond the message and snapped back to life.
“Nice to see you Ms. June.” Keiran said smoothly.
“You know them?” I asked quietly when they looked away.
“Of course.” He answered, not looking at me; Tally was watching us with particular interest.
“Why didn’t you say anything when I was telling you about them?” I asked, half angry and half incredulous.
“You were having so much fun prepping your boyfriend to meet you father. I let you have it. Even though I’m sure I’m not the first.”
I frowned. He was right on that one, I wasn’t popular, but I was nice and I’d had lots of boyfriends. I wondered if the same was true with him.
No. I heard him say in my mind. I looked up at him, shocked. He could do that? He looked down at me and smiled. Curious… I could tell. He told me, trying to stop me from getting frustrated while trying to figure out how the heck he told me that when I wasn’t angry. I guess it made sense, but I was still jaw-drop amazed.
I guess for someone to reading this, you wouldn’t understand. But from then on I realized something. Keiran could read my emotions… but not just the ones that I knew I felt. He could tell what I was feeling, even if I couldn’t tell.
“Oh.” I said dumbly. I let that conversation die. “Okay then,” I said louder. “I’m going to show Keiran my room.” I took his hand and started to pull him up the stairs.
“Wait—“ My dad said quickly. Then he caught himself and slowed down. “Why don’t you let Tally go with you?” He asked.
“No!” Tally and I both wined. I knew that she didn’t want to come just as much as I didn’t want her to. But Dad gave one of those looks that you just can’t ignore. I pulled Keiran up the stairs, Tally in tow.
When we got upstairs and out of sight, I whispered to Tally “Okay you’re free. Go play in your room until dinner’s ready.” I shooed her off to her room.
“Play?” she raised an eyebrow at me from her bedroom door. I rolled my eyes at her and followed Kieran into my room, leaving the door open.
“So…” I said, flopping down on the bed and curling up on my pillow.
“So…” Keiran said, taking off his shoes and turning to face me. “I like your house.” I smiled, trying not to laugh.
“What?” He asked me.
“I don’t know… You’re just so… normal.”
“Normal. Is that a bad thing?”
“Of course not… it’s just that you aren’t supposed to be normal. You’re supposed to be a savior.”
“Saviors are normal. That’s how they complete their missions. They choose some way to fit in, and they stick to it.

Sometimes things happen. No one knows why, but still, things happen. Sometimes people don’t know what’s going on. But that doesn’t stop them from finding out. And then sometimes there are people who want to know up front what’s going on. Those are the people who get bad news in painful ways. Not everyone knows what kind of person they are, and not everyone will find out. I’m still learning. Sometimes people who are learning have to learn from other people. Sometimes, they have to guess.