Carrie calls us in from the other room. “Time to eat!”
I bite my lip, worried that Sabby is going to miss his yearly breakfast from our mom. When I get into the kitchen though, he’s already parked on top of a stool, devouring pancakes with little sprinkles.
I’m suddenly completely at awe. How on earth did Carrie pull this off? I turn and find her doing dishes at the sink. “Hey Carrie, where on earth did you get sprinkles?” I’m literally blown away.
She smiles at me. “I made them.” She says this like it’s the most natural thing in the world. She turns the water off and dries her hands. “Your dad told me yesterday about his traditional birthday pancakes with sprinkles. So, I just put some sugar and water together with a bit of food coloring I found in the pantry and voilà.”
I shake my head and then wrap her in my arms. She returns the hug. “Thank you,” I whisper to her. “You don’t know how much this means to our family.” And I mean it.
Lillie is the first to get done eating and hops down from her stool. She’s playing with a small doll, one she must have found somewhere in the house. She makes it hop and jump from the couch, to the coffee table, and so on until she gets to the large, picturesque windows. I watch her as I take a bite of my pancake, noticing just how sweet and carefree she is.
Connor pokes me in the ribs with his fork. “Now you know where she gets her good looks from,” he says slyly.
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, sure,” I tease. I look back at Lillie, who has since dropped the doll. The doll lies on the floor in an awkward position, as Lillie is plastered to the glass.
“Sabby, Sabby,” she says excitedly. “Sabby, come here, lookie! You have to see this!” She takes turns dancing around the living room and then plastering her little face back to the window.
Sebastian hops off the stool and goes running over. It cracks me up how kids are either running or sleeping. There’s no in between. Sebastian joins Lillie by the window. He looks back towards us, to the window, back to us, and then bellows out the most excited scream you’ve ever heard. Soon they are both screaming, dancing, and begging to go outside and play.
Sebastian comes over to where I’m sitting, grabs my hand, and guides me over to look. As if I hadn’t seen it before, I play along and act surprised by the forts. They do look even cooler in the daylight. The sunlight has broken through some of the clouds and shines off them, giving them a shimmery, ethereal quality.
Before long, Sebastian has managed to get everyone out of their seats and looking out the windows. We all join in, jumping around and yelling in excitement. Even my dad is being silly for Sabby’s sake.
Connor’s voice can be heard over everyone else’s. “Oh my gosh! Forts!”
Sabby makes a b-line for his stuff and starts getting his coat, gloves, and hat on. He manages to get his galoshes on the wrong feet, which makes me giggle. We all rush to our things to get our snow gear out. Sebastian stands at the window, jumping up and down while we finish getting geared up. He wastes no time opening the door and running outside. Carrie comes up behind Sebastian and begins tying a blue ribbon around his head.
“What you do that for, Ms. Carrie? I not a girl!”
Carrie giggles. “No Sebastian, you’re not. But how else are you going to be able to tell whose team you’re on?”
Sabby’s face scrunches up while he contemplates this. Then he smiles. “Ms. Carrie, you so smart!”
We break off into two almost-even teams, blue and red. Tying the ribbons to our head, we run to our appointed forts. Tony grabs Sebastian’s hand and leads him to the middle of the fort area. He kneels down and talks with Sabby for a moment and we all wait. Then the two of them stand up. Sebastian is sporting a very cocky grin, which makes me worry what the two of them were discussing. Tony calls out the instructions for the game. “The game is: Capture the Flag. The goal is to—capture the flag. So, since it’s Sebastian’s birthday, I’ve decided to let him call the rules—so here they are. Rule number one, have fun. Rule number two, if you have any questions, refer back to rule number one.” He looks around at all of us and I wait for him to say something else.
“Wait,” I say aloud. “You’re telling me that there are no rules? That it’s an all-bets-are-off snowball fight?” I’m exasperated! With everyone’s abilities, there’s no telling what might happen.
Of course, Tony has read my thoughts and says aloud, “Correct. There are no rules.” He cocks me a smile and leans down to tell Sebastian something in his ear. Whatever it was must have been funny because Sabby giggles and then looks at me. My face heats up as everyone stares at me. I’ve decided to accept the fact that I am officially screwed. He’s got an invisible girl, a super boy, a girl who can move anything with her mind, and to top it off, Tony can do all of the above. Great!
“You have thirty seconds to get to your forts before we start. The time starts…. now!”
We waste no time getting into our groups. I have my dad, Connor, Lillie, and Alec on my team. We put our heads together for a very quick planning meeting.
“Needless to say, we’re up the creek, unless you’ve got some brilliant idea, Willow,” Connor says.
I think for a moment, realizing they’re asking me to take the lead. I try to think it over really fast. We have one more than they do but we also don’t have the most useful power wielders on our team. My dad can use his gift of vision to perhaps see their moves in advance. That is, if he can get it to work that way. Connor can walk through walls, which may prove to be useful. Alec can heal, but I’m not sure how that would really help us. He’s smart though. Lillie can feel other’s emotions. I have no idea how to make that work in our favor. “Okay, we need a steady supply of ammunition. Dad, can you handle snowball-making duty and watching the flag?”
He nods his head and shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, sure. I can do that.”
I smile and nod my head. “Good, Lillie, can you use your adorable cuteness to walk around and act like you’re not doing anything? We need you to be our secret weapon. If you are able to walk close, but not too close, to their forts, to hear about any plans they’ve have, that would help huge.”
Lillie pulls the doll she was playing with earlier out of her pocket. “I’ve got this,” she says while smiling sweetly. Something tells me that Lillie might be a lot more tenacious than her innocent appearance lets off. She skips out in to the open with her doll and looks every bit like a little girl who’s not interested in this game.
“Connor and Alec, how do you feel about being the enforcers? Connor, you can stay near the fort and help my dad protect the flag. Alec, you can come along with me and we can try to steal their flag.”
“On it!” Connor and Alec say at the same time while doing some kind of macho handshake.
A whistle blows and fake battle cries erupt in the air.
“Let’s do this!” I call. My dad and Connor both drop to start forming snowballs. My dad already has a good-sized pile ready for us that he made while I was divvying out tasks. Alec and I grab as many as we can fit in our arms and start running. I turn us both invisible and Alec struggles to keep ahold of me to stay invisible, while holding onto the lot of snowballs.
We peek around the corner and I see Claire and Marya working their way stealthily across the battlefield. Claire is helping Marya stay invisible, but of course, I can see the two of them. I dart my eyes around, looking for Tony, knowing that only he can see through our invisibility. I don’t catch sight of him.
The first snowball is launched towards our fort by Claire. It looks like it came out of nowhere but it’s aimed directly for Connor. It hits the intended target smack dead in the face.
From where I stand, I can see the surprise in his expression. He knows exactly who’s responsible for it too. “Thanks a lot, babe!” he calls out, waving his hand in the air, pieces of snowball dripping from his hair. I can read his intentions from the emotions coming from him. So I wait to see it unfold.
Claire remains invisible but giggl
es nonetheless. That’s all Connor needs to make a good estimate of her coordinates. He pulls two snowballs out from behind his back and chucks them down at her. The first one misses and the other hits her in the shoulder.
She throws her hands on her hips, which brings Marya into full view. “I thought you loved me!” she pouts jokingly.
Taking advantage of the moment, Marya starts concentrating on the flag. I watch as it shakes back and forth a little and begins to levitate up from the fort.
“Dad!” I call out, giving away our position. A spraying of snowballs comes toward me from around the corner of the other team’s fort. By the sting that they leave, I know they are coming from my little brother. I take cover behind a tree.
I look over at my fort just in time to see my dad grab ahold of the flag to keep it from flying away. I smile. Alec leaves my side and runs towards Marya, who is still trying hard to make the flag move, even if it means moving my father with it. She doesn’t see Alec until it’s too late. He tackles her playfully to the ground. They both laugh and try to shove snow at each other.
Claire makes a run for our fort and I go for her fort. I still don’t know where Tony is and I’m a little nervous about getting any closer to my little brother. If I thought that it hurt to be pinged by snowballs from a distance, imagine how much it would hurt up close. Too bad there isn’t a Major League anymore because Sabby would be an all-star pitcher.
I see my brother’s curls from around the corner of the fort and I dodge in time to miss the curve ball he sends my way. A flash of red hair tells me that Lillie is coming up from behind him. All of a sudden, my brother erupts into a ferocious round of the giggles. He starts laughing so hard that he drops the snowballs in his hands and falls to the snow-cushioned ground. He starts rolling back and forth laughing.
I can’t help but laugh at the incredulousness of it. What in the world is that funny? I see Lillie standing behind him. An intense look of concentration is on her face. She obviously didn’t say or do anything funny. Her eyes look blacker than ever as she stares down at my brother. It creeps me out a bit but I don’t sense any maliciousness coming from her. What on earth? I wonder.
I tune into my brother’s emotions long enough to realize what’s going on. She’s forcing these feelings on him. I never thought of humor as an emotion, but it is one. She is filling him with humor and cheerfulness to the point that he can’t stop laughing. I smile and shake my head in awe. This girl might just be a lot stronger than any of us could have imagined.
With my little brother taken care of, I run towards their fort. The chaos of the snowball fight ensuing behind me gets quieter as I near the edge of the opposing team’s fortress. All is too calm for me to let my guard down. The biggest question of all is—where’s Tony? I try to send out some feelers to listen for thoughts or feelings coming from him, but I get nothing.
I stop stealthily at the edge of the fort with my back against the snow-bricked wall. I listen but hear nothing. It’s now or never. I brace and arm myself with two snowballs before turning the corner. The flag is only a few feet in front of me and nobody is around to protect it. I tiptoe as quietly as I can towards the pole, excited to be so close. I reach my hand out to grab the blue flag.
“You’re cute when you’re trying to be sneaky,” Tony says. He’s so close to me that I can feel his breath on my neck and it sends a delightful shiver through me.
I raise my hands in mock surrender and slowly turn around to face my not-so-much enemy. I look up into his eyes, which are swirled with a handful of colors that he’s been using for the game.
He gives me a breathtaking smile that is hot enough to melt the fort to the ground. “So, you want my flag?”
I nod my head impishly.
“And you expect me to let you just—take it?” he asks in a mischievous whisper.
I nod my head again, biting my lip. My heart has picked up its pace and the heat has filled my cheeks. How is it that Tony can make me melt like this still? I wonder if the intense attraction I have for him will ever settle with time.
“That’s very doubtful,” he says, answering my private thoughts. He pulls me into a kiss that warms me from the inside out. I lose myself for that minute we are so close that nothing can pull us apart. Our hearts are beating at the exact same rhythm and I know then that they are connected in a way that could never be separated. I’m left breathless when he pulls away just enough to whisper in my ear again. “Please don’t be mad.”
I pull my head back, confused, and that’s when I hear something rustling behind us. I turn around to see Marya tying our red flag just below their blue one. She is blushing from being an obvious witness to our intimate moment.
I turn and glare at Tony but my heart’s not really into it. Instead, I laugh and push him to the ground, using my strength. Dropping down above him, I start shoveling snow all over him. I try to push some down his jacket and we end up wrestling on the ground playfully in an all-out snow fight. I can hear my team members booing and Tony’s team members whooping and hollering. All of a sudden, the fort is being busted down as my team starts pulling it apart. I use my telekinesis gift to burst it apart and snow bricks go flying into the air. We all laugh and hit each other with snow in every which way. Nobody cares whose team they’re on. It’s every man for themselves as the front yard is filled with chaos.
After another twenty minutes of our anarchic snow war, we run inside chilled to the bone. Carrie is ready for us as we enter. Towels are laid out on the floor so we don’t slip on the melting snow that drops from our outerwear. We dress down from our outside clothes, greedily sip hot cocoa, and slurp the hot ramen that she spoons out into our bowls.
Everyone’s eyes are so alight with giddy excitement and happiness that it’s so easy to forget all that is wrong in our worlds. For one day, everything is right. Everything is good as it should be. We are kids like we are meant to be. Even the adults look ten years younger.
We spend the remainder of the day playing our favorite childhood games and by the time it gets dark, everyone is exhausted but happy. For dinner, we have spaghetti, which is one of Sebastian’s favorites. He smiles as he slurps up a noodle loudly.
“This is one of the best birthdays ever!” he says. Then his eyes grow sad for a second. “I wish Mom were here.”
My dad pulls his chair closer to him and puts an arm around his shoulder. “She is. She’s watching you from the best place in the world—Heaven.”
Not hearing our change of conversation, Carrie comes to the table with a cake that holds five candles.
Sabby nods his head and looks to my dad. “Do you think if I use my wish to bring her back, it would work?”
My dad’s mouth drops and his eyes turn sad. He looks to me and then to Carrie, not sure how to answer that. How do you tell a child that those kinds of wishes are impossible?
I try to help. “Are you tired, Sabby?”
He looks at me confused because my question makes no sense. “A little.”
“Do you ever feel sad?” I ask.
“Sometimes,” he answers, furrowing his eyebrows.
“What if you were in a place that you never got tired? Or you would never get sad? Instead, you would always feel happy; you would always feel healthy. What if every day it was the perfect temperature, the sun always shined on you, and you were able to bask in it to enjoy every ounce of life because you had no fear, you had no concerns, no worry, nothing to trouble you? What if anything you ever wanted was at your fingertips in this place?” I ask.
His eyes brighten. “Like this cake? I could always have cake?”
I nod my head. “Yes, you could in this place. Would you like that, Sabby?” I ask him.
He nods his head excitedly.
“Would you ever want to leave a place like that?” I ask him.
“No.” He shakes his head, still slightly confused with where the conversation had gone.
“Well, Mom is in a place like that.” My throat chokes with emotion
. “You wouldn’t want to ask her to leave such an amazing place, would you?” Tears fill my eyes, threatening to spill over.
His eyes water as well. A barrage of emotions flickers over his face. He wants two things. He wants his mom for him and he wants his mom to be happy. “So I shouldn’t wish for her to come back to us?” he asks me, unsure of himself.
I shake my head sadly. “No Sabby. We should let her be happy. Instead of wanting her to come down to us, we can look forward to the day that we go up to be with her, forever.” I want to say so much more, but how do you explain everything to a five-year-old child?
“When would we go up to be with her?” he asks. A flicker of recognition suddenly crosses his face and he looks sad again.
“You have a long time before that. But if you are good, Sabby, you will see Mom again one day. When that day comes, you won’t ever have to worry about losing her again,” my dad answers for me.
“Okay,” Sabby says as he stares at the dwindling candles on the cake. Two of them have extinguished. Carrie picks up a candle and uses it to relight the others.
“What should I wish for then?” Sabby asks.
“That’s up to you,” my dad tells him.
He nods his head and seriously debates this responsibility. I want badly to listen in to his thoughts and know what he’s thinking, but I know that wouldn’t be right. Sabby closes his eyes and a second later, he blows out the candles in one very strong breath. When he opens his eyes again, he has a huge smile.
“What did you wish for?” Lillie asks him.
“I not supposed to say,” Sabby answers. His face is back alight and no longer filled with a grief that a child should not have to endure.
We go with it and the room returns to its previous jovial atmosphere. After dinner, we clean up and head into the living room. When Sabby rounds the corner he squeals, “Presents!” He runs to the coffee table, where a few small, wrapped gifts are. He jumps up and down and Lillie joins in with his excitement.
Ending ELE (ELE Series) Page 8
