Chapter One

I sat down quickly into the hard plastic caf chair beside my friend Claire, exhausted. I hadn’t slept well the last few nights, and my body was starting to feel it. Everything ached, begging for just a bit of rest.

Claire’s forehead puckered into a frown at my appearance.

“You okay, Kate?” she asked.

“Um, fine. I’m just tired.”

“Oh.” She squinted at me. “You look kind of pale.”

“I’m just tired!” I snapped.

She sucked in her cheeks and muttered something under her breath, insulted by my rude behavior.

The chatter of the lunchtime crowd seemed especially loud today, as if I was hearing it through a head set. Sadie’s giggles hurt my ears, and Claire’s voice reverberated in my head as she told Sadie about the latest movie she’d seen. All the noises were deafening together. I put my head between my arms and cupped my ears with my hands as I leaned against the table in a feeble attempt to block out the din. It didn’t work.

Sadie, on my other side, nudged me. “Look,” she giggled. “He’s totally staring at you!”

“What?” My head snapped up. “Who?” I asked nervously.

“Him! Over there!” She wagged an annoyingly flawless pink nail towards the other end of the cafeteria.

A boy stood leaning against the wall by the door, his eyes on us. He was tall, but at 5”2, everyone seems tall to me. Jet-black hair fell across his forehead, which he casually pushed back as he stared at us.

I reluctantly pulled away my eyes, blushing as his gaze met mine.

“He is not.” I mumbled, a bit disorientated. “He’s looking at you, Sadie.”

She flipped her honey blond locks coyly over her shoulder, obviously flattered.

“He’s new hear, you know. I wonder…” She paused to flutter her eyelashes at him. I bit my lip, annoyed by her flirtatious behavior. It bothered me, because I knew that Sadie, who was tall and beautiful, could have anyone she wanted.

I’d never even been on a date.

I risked a quick glance in his direction, wondering through my headache what he thought of her, of me. He caught my eye for a second before he turned and walked out the double doors. I thought I detected a hint of a smile on his carefully composed countenance. I took a sip of my pop, my cheeks a little more flushed that usual, and tried to ignore the aching on my temples.

That was when everything changed.

The table moved underneath my hands, and my chair rocked. The lights beat down with a sickening heat. My mouth dried up; a split of pain ran down my arms and into my palms, where it pooled like water. But all these things were nothing compared to the weight of the air on me, around me. It crushed me. I could feel it on me, around me. I could feel everything.

Madison Harper was sad.

Evan McDonald was anxious.

Carrie Lee was ecstatic;

Olivia Bryn was frustrated.

Sad. Anxious. Ecstatic. Frustrated. They pushed down on me, the air throbbing on me with their presence. They pushed against my skull, my hands, their force relentless. They came from every direction, multiplying.

I trembled, and my pain turned to fear. I could feel them; every one of them. I could feel them. Their anger, grief, pain. Their emotions.

Claire was asking me something. She looked concerned. Did she feel it too? Could she feel it? I grabbed her by the arm.

“Do you feel that?” I gasped. My voice scared me. It was raw, unlike my usually quiet tone.

“What? Oww, Kate, you’re hurting my arm! Are you sure you’re okay? You look really pale.” She was worried about me. I could feel the concern coming off her in waves. Waves that hit me like walls of bricks, drowning me and pushing me under. I pulled away.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” I said, my voice trembling. I practically ran out of the cafeteria.

Once in the stall, I let my stomach empty itself. I felt calmer after that, more steady. The bathroom was empty, so I went and stood in front of the mirror. I was chalk white, my eyes bugging out of my sockets, my muscles tense. The attacks were fading now, becoming less and less violent. No wonder Claire had been so concerned about me. I looked terrible.

I took some deep breaths, trying to grasp what had just happened. My heart was still pounding away in my chest. I listened to it as it slowly calmed and returned to its regular pace.

“It’s okay, Kate. It’s fine. Nothing happened. It’s okay,” I whispered to myself.

But I knew something had happened, something I couldn’t explain, and I was more afraid than I had ever been in my life.