Select (Select #1)(78)

Instinctively, I looked to the sky. Butterflies, thousands of monarchs, hovered in a cloud above us. Lone butterflies on the fringes descended into the crowd, landing on raised fingers. In the hush around me, I felt the shared privilege of seeing something miraculous. I looked below, and I clearly saw John. He looked straight at me, as if he knew this was my doing.

My concentration was broken. With no warning, the butterflies chose a direction and flew under the eaves, out of sight. I’d never done anything like that; I’d never been able to influence animate objects.

Angus looked at me and shook his head. “That’s beautiful, but it’s not going to do the trick. I can do better.”

And then he leapt up onto the railing in front of us.

“What the hell are you doing?” I began to grab at him. Hundreds of eyes were now trained on Angus. I saw the Lost Kids turn their bodies fully toward him, as if awaiting orders. Angus looked from them to me, like he was telling them I was now in charge.

Angus ignored my hands. He suddenly jumped and, turning partway in midair, caught the metal railing at the edge of the balcony with his fingers. He dangled there for an instant, giving anyone with a phone enough time to catch his show. People were shouting, and the crowd parted below, anticipating Angus’s fall.

Angus launched himself from the third-floor railing, soared through the air, and dropped down, stomping the ground on impact. A boom emanated from the ground, and the crowd flew back at the force. The lone oak tree cracked, its roots pulling slightly up. The only people left standing were the teens from our two groups, there in the open for everyone to see.

Everything around me moved in slow motion, dust from the dirt floor below making the air hazy. People around me in the balcony began to fight for the exit, instinctively worried about the foundation of the building. And then I was stuck—stuck in the now-panicking mob, stuck in the tight stairwell when I needed to get to John and Angus to make sure both of them got the hell out.

It was madness when I made it to the ground level, searching for John through the bodies and commotion. The lights came on, and in the glare I caught sight of him brushing off Reese’s back. John’s eyes were scanning the crowd, looking for me, I realized. When he saw me, in a telling gesture, he began trying to make his way toward me.

I automatically took a step forward before stopping to take a cautious look around. I saw George to my left, near me, looking like an eerily still Adonis, his eyes fixed on John.

I wanted to meet John halfway, but I needed to save him. Angus had put me in charge of the Lost Kids, and right away I knew what to do. The butterflies had been the precursor to this. For the first time ever, I silently called for my friends, attempting to summon them.

I knew when they heard me. I felt connected to all of them in a way I never had before, like I had been let in on something I hadn’t fully known existed. With the strange exception of Roger and Ellis, the Lost Kids parted the crowd and effectively formed a barrier in front of John, protecting him. Roger and Ellis elbowed their way through, joining the formation a few seconds late.

John thought he was purposely being blocked from me, and in disgust he turned away. He was done with me, in spite of his breathtaking impulse to make sure I was okay.

John was near an exit. He flowed into the crowd streaming out. I looked to George. He hadn’t moved. His eyes were focused on the oak tree, which was now tilting precariously, splintered and creaking.

It wouldn’t take much more than a mental nudge and the old oak would come down in John’s vicinity. It would be as easy as moving a pencil. I wondered if George would dare to try and if he really had it in him to hurt all those people.

George did it. With a snapping noise, the tree began to shift.

For me it felt the same as righting a glass of water the second it tipped.

Imperceptibly to anyone else, I caught the tree in my gaze and held it until I finally won the battle with gravity, redirecting it to crash, with a huge thunderclap, on top of a fence near the exit, demolishing it. A branch fell just in front of John, catching his side. I knew he was hurt, but he kept walking, so it had to be superficial. Nothing slowed him down as he tried to get out of the venue and as far away from me as possible.

George looked both annoyed and confused that his effort hadn’t worked. He turned to find Liv, giving up now that John had set foot outside the building. We needed to get out of here immediately ourselves.

John was safe from us. No one would have time to look for him now. This was it, after what Angus had done. Austin was over.

Silently I willed the boys to go too, to leave Angus in my care, to get home now. I knew they wanted to help Angus, but they seemed to understand my urgency, turning to the exit, disbanding. Again Ellis and Roger were a step behind, like they were on a different wavelength from the other Lost Kids.

For a second I stood there, not quite believing all that I’d done. And on my eighteenth birthday. I felt proud and a little awed. As always my next thought was, What will Angus think? I turned to see him standing in the middle of the venue at ground level, surveying his damage, Liv by his side.

When I reached them, I gently took his arm. “Angus, why? Why did you do that?” Then I saw the blood trickling out of his mouth and ear, and one foot rotated almost ninety degrees.

“I wasn’t about to let him go to paradise with you,” he said, laughing.

“Come on, Angus. Why?”

“I can’t let Novak own me,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. His words were confident, but his eyes were scared.