Ending ELE (ELE Series) (8 page)

“
I know. Tony an Marra are heroes!” he says, mispronouncing Marya’s name.

“
Yes, they are.” I smile at Tony from over Sabby’s shoulder.

Growing
weak, I hand my brother to my dad. Feeling the adrenaline crash, I allow myself to fall down to the ground and sit with my arms wrapped around my legs. I’m shaking from head to toe and I can’t seem to stop. Everyone takes their turns coming over to Tony and me. I get a lot of hugs. Tony exchanges some manly handshakes and pats on the back. Everyone gives Marya her due attention too.

Eventually we all end up sitting on the ground, most of the others talking enthusiastically about how brave Tony was
and how powerful Marya’s gift is.

I close my eyes and lean my head
back, trying to get the shaking to stop.

I utilize my healing ability and Tony chimes in and helps.
Eventually, my body begins to calm as it realizes that the imminent danger is gone.

“
Feeling better?” Tony asks me quietly.

I wipe my hands on my jeans and nod my head.
“Yes, I think it all caught up with me.” I give him a half smile.

He puts his arm
s around me and pulls me closer to him. “I’m sorry about the rope. I had no idea that it would break like that. If I’d known, I would have never have let you or anyone else on it.”

“
It’s not your fault that Alec exceeded the maximum weight limit, Tony,” Connor—who shouldn’t be honing in on our conversation—teases. Lillie is at his side, hanging onto his leg. She giggles at her brother’s comment.

Alec punches him in the arm.
“Whatever, Fatty Patty. You were the last one on that rope!”

Lillie
laughs harder and Alec smiles down at her. He holds his hand out for her to give him a high five. She slaps her little hand against his and they exchange a fist bump. The humor in her expression drops and she looks up at her brother. Her little, black eyes look worried.

I instinctively turn my attention to
Connor, whose face has gone white. Not because he feels bad, but because he’s just realizing it could have been him falling from the cliff.

Tony
—who shouldn’t be listening in on Connor’s thoughts—weighs in. “Yeah, I like you and all, Connor, but it would have been mighty awkward to have had to carry
you
down on my back.” With that, the tension is cut.

Connor laughs and shakes off his feelings. I notice that
Lillie’s eyes lighten up as well. I wonder how hard it must be for her to have the empathic gift. It was hard enough for me to control how I dealt with feeling other people’s emotions in the beginning. I can’t imagine having to deal with it at such a young age like she does.

“
Kids are resilient,”
Tony says inside my head.

I look from
Lillie to Sabby and nod my head. “They sure are,” I whisper. “Let’s build a bridge,” I say loud enough for everyone to hear.

“
Heck yeah, I haven’t tried this gift out yet,” Tony adds, rubbing his hands together.

I think of how
, with my gifts, I rarely knew how to work them in the beginning. In fact, most of the time I didn’t even realize I could do something until it happened. Tony doesn’t seem to have that much of an issue with anything like I do. A small spark of envy comes to me but I quickly extinguish it.

“
What can I say? I’m a prodigy,”
Tony says in my head.

I raise an eyebrow at him.
“We’ll see about that,”
I reply, remembering how telekinesis was one of the hardest gifts for me to master. I felt so out of control when I was using it and at first, it only came out naturally when I was in a situation with heightened emotions.

We hike over to where several
gigantic tree trunks lay in a pile under a few inches of snow. They measure to what I would estimate to be sixty feet in length. With the branches cleared and perfect cuts, I can tell that a machine took these down a while ago. My only question would be how they got machinery down here, but I guess that’s better thought out for another day.

Tony stares down at the trees with a focused expression. We all watch him in silence as his body goes rigid with concentration. I keep looking back and forth from Tony to the tree and then back at Tony. He clenches his hands and perspiration begins building on his forehead
, despite the arctic temperatures. The wood doesn’t move an inch.

I put my hand on his shoulder a moment later and he relaxes his body. He turns to look at me. The
re is a gold swirl running through his irises but not nearly enough to give him the strength to move such a large object with his mind. “This one took me a while too,” I tell him with a soft smile.

“
Well, I guess even I have to have an Achilles heel.” He smiles.

Much to my relief, he doesn
’t seem embarrassed or defeated. “It’ll just take some practice. Perhaps start with a pencil or something that isn’t ten times your body weight,” I tease.

He grunts
and then turns his attention back to the pile of wood. I turn as well to find that one of the tree trunks at the top has started shaking. We all back up and watch Marya. With seemingly no effort, she starts moving one of the trunks away from the pile. We watch her in awed silence while she slowly positions it to where it lays perfectly over the river. The process takes about ten minutes in all as she finagles it just right so that it doesn’t end up crashing to the bottom of the riverbed.

“
That’s so cool!” Connor says with his eyes wide. Then his face goes pouty. “I wish I could do something as cool as that.” He kicks the dirt in frustration.

“
Walking through objects is just as cool, babe.” Claire pats her man on his shoulder consolingly.

He perks up and shrugs his shoulders.
“You’re right. I am pretty awesome.” He cocks a half-smile at Claire.

I laugh and roll my eyes. What a goober.
“My turn,” I say as I step up to the pile of wood. I focus on channeling my telekinesis gift as I stare at one of the logs at the top of the pile. A gold haze starts to rim the outermost parts of my vision. I focus harder and watch the log vibrate. It takes several minutes for me to get it off the pile of wood. My breathing is labored and sweat is accumulating on my brow. This sucker is heavy. Or, I’ve just been using my gifts too much these past few days and I’m a bit weakened by the over-usage.

Tony puts his hand on my shoulder and I
suddenly feel a burst of strength. The large tree trunk floats in the air and I maneuver it to lay next to the other one across the riverbank.

I let out an exerted breath and wipe my forehead.
“Thanks, babe,” I tell Tony. He smiles.

“
My tun!” Sebastian calls out.

We turn to look down at the little guy who is standing tall with his hands on his hips in a Superman sort of pose. You can
’t help but smile and giggle a bit at how serious his little face is.

“
It’s awfully heavy, son,” our dad tells him.

Sabby
’s eyebrows crease inward as he turns to look at our dad. “I so stwong!” he says and flexes his arm muscles to show us. Even though he has a jacket on and it would be impossible to see the bulge, I know it’s there. I just don’t know if my little brother could lift something that could be well over several thousand pounds.

My dad
’s look turns from humor to concern. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself though, buddy.”

“
I no hurt myself. I stwong.” He does his Superman pose again.

Then without waiting for my father
’s approval, he darts towards the logs, using his gift of speed. We watch in dumbfounded silence as he picks one of the logs off from the side of the pile. He gets behind one end and starts lifting it up, moving further towards the middle as he gets the trunk off the ground little by little. My eyes are open so wide that I can’t even blink. He manages to push it to the bank of the river. Then he works the trunk up to where it is standing straight up in the air.

For a second I get a sickening fear that the tree trunk
—that is several times taller than my little brother is—will fall on him. It doesn’t though. Instead, Sebastian balances it just right so it stands without his effort. He steps slightly away from the trunk and, with a push of his index finger, he sends it falling. He darts to my side while the tree is still in mid-fall. A second later, it crashes down across the river. A huge spray of water flies in the air and the ground shakes from the impact.

I realize my mouth has been open during the
entire process. Wide-eyed, I look around at my friends, at Tony, and at my dad. All of us wear the same expression of pure amazement.

Sabby giggles.
“Toll you,” he says in a cheerful tone, wagging his finger at me. He stands proudly once more, looking at all of us until my dad scoops him up in a giant bear hug.

My dad shakes his head in awe.
“Wow, son! You weren’t kidding… you
are
stronger than Superman!” My dad beams with pride.

“
I know,” Sabby says smiling, hooking his thumbs in his belt loop and rocking back on his heels.

“
Way to go, Sabby!” Lillie holds her right hand up in the air for Sabby.

My little brother gives her a high five and then...
winks at her? That sends an eruption of giggles from the crowd.

Tony ruffles the top of Sebastian
’s curls. “You are quite a champ.”

“
Yes! I can do anyfing.” He smiles very big and stands even taller.

Tony
raises his eyebrows at him with a humorous smile. “I bet you can. Do you want to help me secure the bridge?” he asks him.

My little brother
’s big, neon-yellow eyes light up and he nods his head with eager enthusiasm.

"Give me just a second." Tony quickly crosses the bridge to the other side, checking for its sturdiness. He returns a moment later seemingly confident that it's safe for my little brother.

“Alright, follow me,” Tony says. He gestures with his hand for Sabby to follow as he trots over to the newly made bridge, making sure it’s safe for all of us to cross. Sabby stays close behind Tony, mimicking his every move. Every once in a while, Tony looks back to make sure that Sebastian is safe and still following him closely. I see an amused expression on his face when he turns around one final time to look down at him. Then Tony climbs to the middle of the bridge and, seeing that Sebastian’s close behind, he stops, runs in place, does ten jumping jacks, and sprints to the end of the logs, jumping off for a final effect.

I look at him in
confusion, trying to figure out what the heck he’s doing.

“
Watch,
” I hear him say in my head. Without asking, I know he means to watch Sebastian. I turn my attention to my little brother. Then it dawns on me; Sebastian is going to copy what Tony just did—or is he? He is still standing in the middle of the logs with a look of utter confusion on his face. I see him take a deep breath, shrug his shoulders, and then he’s off to the races. He runs as fast as his little legs can go, does ten jumping jacks… well, as good as a youngster can manage, then sprints off the log and jumps into Tony’s waiting arms.

A smile spreads across my face.
Someday that may be our own child he’s catching.
I shake my head, embarrassed for even having that thought. Tony looks up and meets my eyes from across the river in that same moment. I feel the warmth flooding to my cheeks, knowing he heard me. Tony just smiles at me adoringly and winks at me in agreement.

My dad, who
’s been standing next to me, leans over and whispers in my ear. “Yep, he’s a keeper.” He playfully jabs me with his elbow in my side and I can’t help but laugh.

“
Dad!” I say, feigning embarrassment.

All the rest of us make our way over the bridge.
At the end, Tony takes my hand and helps me step down off the logs.

“
The cabin should be only a little ways to the west of here,” Tony tells me.

I nod my head and look up at the sky. The snow is starting to fall again. I hope it won
’t get as bad as it did yesterday.

“
Wello! Wello!” I hear a little voice call from my side. I turn and find Sebastian with his hands in the air. I grab him in my arms and we continue walking towards the cabin. All the while, I’m praying we’re going the right way.

We wade through the snow like a duck wading through water.
The snow is still pretty deep and continuing to accumulate. I’m hoping that maybe the weather will warm up a bit in the next few days so the snow can begin to melt. I feel chilled to the bone and I almost find myself wishing for the crazy high temperatures that we had when they first implemented Project ELE.

After an hour or so of hiking, Tony reaches for Sebastian and places him on his shoulders.
Sabby giggles at being so high up. He reaches his hands towards the sky and slaps the tree branches in the air as we go by. One of the branches must have been packed with snow, because Sebastian hits it and a huge wad of snow lands on Tony’s head. I can’t hold back the laugh as Tony becomes a human snowman. Tony tickles him and Sabby wiggles in delight.