by Tonya Kuper
“We’re good. Stay close.”
Josie didn’t move or give any indication that she’d heard me, though.
“I understand you’re scared and you don’t know what’s going on, but you can trust me. I won’t let anything happen to you.” We stood there, staring at each other, and after a few seconds, something changed in her eyes and she closed the gap between us.
With my gun at the ready, I crossed the path with her, then grabbed the helmet for her to put on. Taking a step back, I scanned the bike. Someone could’ve tampered with it. Just in case, I Retracted the motorcycle and Pushed another identical to my baby. I straddled the tank and balanced the bike. After starting the engine and revving the throttle, I held out my hand and helped her get on. She was quiet and fast—afraid. I studied her over my shoulder. “You okay?”
“I need an explanation. I don’t like not understanding.” Her voice was monotone.
She intrigued me. Yeah, she was smart and beautiful, but there was something else—something others could easily overlook. Determination? Stubbornness? Compassion? I wasn’t sure.
I faced forward but reached back for her hand, pulling it around my waist. She wound the other arm around me on her own. Her fingers sunk into my stomach. This time her hands didn’t rest on my body, they held on like her sanity depended on it—and it probably did.
No pressure.
4.
Josie
W
e rolled to a stop in front of Marisa’s house with about ten seconds to spare. I surveyed the stairs. Hannah wasn’t anywhere in sight among the small crowd in the front yard.
I pried my fingers from Reid’s body as he turned off the engine. I didn’t want to let go. He was real, that I knew for sure, but I wasn’t sure about anything else. Some of the kids yelled and I jumped, my heart rocking in my chest.
Reid looked at me over his shoulder. “You’re safe.” His words were strong, confident. They were the first we’d exchanged since leaving the park, and they held a certainty that I desperately needed. I hopped down, tugging the helmet off my head. With one fluid motion, Reid dismounted and took the helmet from me.
My pocket vibrated, sending my nervous system into hyperdrive. I was going to end up with one wicked headache from all the adrenaline ups and downs. I pulled my phone from my back pocket. Mom had texted: Josie?
Crap. I’d forgotten to check in. I responded: I’m ok
It wasn’t true, though. I wouldn’t ever be okay again.
I felt Reid close behind me, so I hit send and turned to face him, my sinuses burning with threatening sobs.
His face was somber, his playfulness buried with the dead man. “Let’s talk out here. We’re safe surrounded by others, but we don’t want anyone to overhear. Why don’t you text Hannah and I’ll text Santos.”
I nodded like a lifeless bobblehead doll. I texted Hannah: Out front w Reid. I’m fine. Take your time. Reid’s head bowed to his phone as he typed, his message taking much longer than mine, so I scanned the area for a quiet place to talk. My classmates were running amok. Some were just being silly, and some were probably drunk. I envied them a little. The veil of ignorance had been pulled from my eyes, but they still enjoyed it. Ignorance is bliss. Oh yeah. I’d never understood the full measure of that saying until now.
Tears trickled down my face, but I quickly swiped them away before anyone could notice. Reid’s hand landed softly on the small of my back, and he ushered me away from the front porch and into the large front yard. “You’re okay.” His breath tickled my ear.
I was wrong. He’d noticed the tears.
When we reached several decorative boulders tucked into the landscaping, he gestured for me to sit. He faced the surrounding woods, his back to the house and the assortment of kids hanging out on the front porch. Those odd goggles appeared on his eyes, and he did a quick scan of the area. In a flash, they disappeared.
I blinked. All of these bizarre events felt like a hallucination, like some twisted dream in which reality warped and the impossible became real.
But these things didn’t happen. A person didn’t just think something, want something, and it appeared out of the ether. Infinitesimal possibilities existed for even the most statistically improbably scenarios, but, but…still.
I was crazy. Now that was a far more logical conclusion. I had been suffering headaches, and I hadn’t felt quite right today— Holy shit, the “magic” popcorn and ice cream…maybe he’d drugged me! “What the hell did you do to me?” My knees started shaking, and it was all I could do to stand upright.
“Sit,” he said, then, taking the choice out of my hands, he lifted me onto the stone ledge.
As soon as my butt hit the rock, the tears tumbled out of control.
“Take a deep breath,” he ordered.
“That guy…” I tried not to let my voice shake, but I was doing a lousy job. “He’s dead.” I might be crazy or hallucinating, but I recalled the events in the park in vivid detail. That guy. The attack. “Y-you saved me.” My voice squeaked. “What…what’s going on? How did you—how did I—make that stuff appear?”
Reid held up a hand, indicating to stop or slow down, but my brain was on overload. I couldn’t stop. “What’s real and what isn’t? Who else can do this?” The questions were piling up in my head. I couldn’t spew them out quickly enough. And there seemed to be a direct correlation between the speed of my words and the pace at which my tears fell. “Am I losing my mind?”
“No, Josie. You aren’t.”
He raked a hand through his hair like he didn’t know where to begin. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. “I made things appear. I made a gun appear in my freaking hand by wanting one in my hand. How? And how do I know I can trust you? How do I know you won’t try to kill me, too?” I closed my eyes briefly, but all I could see was the dead body lying in the grave, a coffin I’d created with my mind, by simply thinking it into existence. And I lost it.
Giant sobs wracked my body, and I let my face fall into my hands. Reid pulled me against his chest. He whispered into my hair as he held me and let me cry. “I’ll protect you. I won’t let anyone hurt you, I promise. I’m going to teach you how to do this. You’re not alone. Okay? I won’t let you do this alone.”
I didn’t know if I should be scared of him or not. My gut said no, but I didn’t go off gut feelings. I let observations, calculations, and analysis determine my actions. I needed proof that he was safe.
His arms wrapped firmly around me, my face resting on his shoulder even though my sobs had trailed off into uneven breaths and sniffles. I found comfort in this stranger’s embrace, which went against everything I’d usually do. My warring feelings confused me just as much as everything else going on.
I slowly extracted myself from Reid’s body. As my hand slid from his shoulder, he caught it, stuffing a tissue into my palm. I peeked up at him through my bangs, and his startling light eyes were already trained on me. He brushed my cheek with the pad of his thumb. The touch was gentle and soft.
A car came around the corner, the headlights temporarily blinding me, and it occurred to me that anyone, like the person in that car, could be after me or could do what Reid and I could do.
“Josie.” Reid drew out the O in my name. Like the word sat in his mouth longer than it needed to.
My gaze drifted back to Reid’s face.
“We’re okay. Santos and I are both keeping watch.” He knew I was watching, probably paranoid forever now. And Santos was like him. Like us. There were two of them and only one of me. My mouth went dry at this small, but potentially important realization.
“Let me try to explain this in the simplest way possible,” he continued. “We’re called Oculi. We can create reality through observation.”
My stomach roiled and my lungs forgot how to work. Holy shitballs.
Reid
S
he hugged her stomach.
“Okay.” Anxiety had a firm hold on my pulse. Maybe I sh
ouldn’t have been nervous, but I was responsible for quite possibly the most powerful person in the world, who just happened to be the girl I’d had a thing for since I was a kid. I’d made sure she wouldn’t recognize me, but I was still terrified she’d figure out who I was before I was ready to tell her. I shoved my personal feelings aside, letting my training take over. “Have you heard of Bohr or Heisenberg, or maybe Schrödinger?”
“Of course, the fathers of modern quantum physics.”
“Of course?” If I hadn’t grown up in the Hub, I doubted I would’ve known those names, or anything about quantum physics. What normal person, especially at the age of seventeen, just knew about quantum physics? But, then again, she wasn’t a normal seventeen-year-old.
“Okay. Well, have you heard of something called the Copenhagen Interpretation or Schrödinger’s Cat experiment or—”
“You mean the theory that caused half of the physicists of the world to throw their arms up in dismay? The highly disputed and controversial theory stating that a system stops being a superposition of states and becomes either one or the other when an observation takes place?” Her mouth dropped open as she realized the words she’d said. She’d just made the connection.
I knew she was smart, but this was impressive. I was about to make sure she did, in fact, understand, but she continued. “When the act of observation is performed, that is what makes the wave function collapse into one of the two possible states. Is that what we’re talking about?”
Shock at her understanding ran my blood cold. “So,” I said, not sure how to continue, “you understand that in the theory, the transition from the possible to the actual takes place during the—”
Josie’s words overlapped mine and we spoke in unison: “Act of observation.”
She’d rendered me speechless, and I didn’t think that’d ever happened. She whispered, “Heisenberg, 1958.”
“How do you know all of that?” I asked, even though I knew the answer to the question. Her parents were scientists. But still.
“My dad is a physicist. When I was little, we had a dog named Erwin. Schrödinger’s first name.”
I stood and motioned for Josie to follow. I didn’t like sitting still out in the open for too long. Josie’s stare zigzagged around the yard. She was keeping watch, too. Quick study.
She followed my lead through the yard. “That’s what we’re doing,” I said. “We’re observing the possible into the actual. We’re observing our own reality. We’re ultimate observers, Pushing and Retracting reality. We’re Oculi.”
Her eyes scanned the opposite side of the street. “You’re saying the theory isn’t just a theory. Pushing reality, just by thinking it in our heads, then observing it with our eyes?”
“Exactly.”
“Who are ultimate observers? Oculi?”
“Oculi. Latin for ‘eyes.’ We manipulate reality and are everywhere. We cover the Earth, in every possible country. Most of us are aware of what we do; few are clueless. Our race has been kept a secret from Plancks.”
Josie paused under a street light on the sidewalk. Her emerald irises peered at me from under a flop of hair. “Plancks?”
“A Planck is a normal person, not an Oculi. You know, like Max Planck, another ‘father’ of quantum physics. He came up with Planck’s constant in his equations. It’s a constant. Unchanging. Boring. That’s what ordinary people are.”
She huffed out a half laugh, but her face was still punctuated with worry. “And where do I fit into all this? Why were you looking for me? How did you know where I was?” She tucked her hair back behind her ears.
For a moment, I was stuck. I got to really look at her. Even a couple years ago, I hadn’t had that chance. I’d stolen glances of her when I could, but it was never anything this close.
A black ring outlined her green irises. A smooth slope, peppered with a few light freckles, defined her nose. Her lips, full. Pale skin. Curves I could get lost in. But I couldn’t think of her that way. I needed to be her trainer, which also meant I was her rule enforcer.
“How did that guy find me?” Josie’s hands tightened around her arms. “Who sent you? Why me?” Every word came out faster than the one before it, and her cheeks grew rosy.
I didn’t blame her for wanting answers. Reaching over, I gave her a playful nudge in the shoulder with the tips of my fingers. “We have plenty of time for everything. Calm down.”
“How can I calm down when you’re talking about observing stuff into reality and you’re”—her head oscillated on her shoulders like a fan—“keeping an eye out for people who want to kill me?”
She reminded me of Tinker Bell—sassy and cute until you pissed her off.
A high-pitched screech came from the porch behind us, drawing both our attention. “There you are!” Josie’s friend yelled. She skipped down the steps toward us, Santos behind her. They strolled across the large yard.
I stepped back in front of Josie, giving us a few extra seconds of privacy. “I just gave you a lot of information to digest. Why don’t you practice Pushing tonight in the safety of your home, and I’ll stand guard outside, keeping you safe.”
Josie’s brows scrunched. “Wait. What?” She grabbed the bottom of my shirt. “I need to know more. Now.”
I stepped forward, Josie’s mouth a breath from mine. The moment seemed to slow, or maybe I just wanted it to. I could almost taste her floral scent. I reached around her and carefully snatched her phone from her pocket and stepped away. For the sake of security, I’d Retracted my phone before we’d left the park, ditching it right along with the straightjacket and knives and evidence of the attack. I knew Santos’s number by heart. Texted him to ditch his cell and Push another one, then we coordinated the numbers…That part was a bit more complicated.
“Key code?” I asked, needing to get “in” to her phone.
She rattled off a number. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was pi.
I swiped down the screen and snorted at her Guardians of the Galaxy wallpaper, ’cause if the whole 3141 password didn’t tip me off to her geek status, the screen saver would’ve. I peered down at her, her eyes squinting in anger. “I’m programming my number in your phone and memorizing yours. You need to rest. You’ve experienced enough for your first day. I’ll make sure you get home.” I returned her phone and turned to talk to Santos.
She whisper-yelled behind me, “Who are you to tell me to go rest?”
I twisted and lowered my mouth to her ear. “There are dangerous people out there looking for you. I’m your trainer, your teacher. Please trust me, listen to me.”
Before I could reassure Josie any more, Hannah arrived. She looped her arm through Josie’s. “Jo, why didn’t you put your visor down? Your eyes are all watery and red.”
Josie replied with a somewhat hysterical laugh.
I hoped she could keep it together. Hannah was a Planck. There were serious repercussions for exposing our powers to Plancks.
Hannah turned on a hundred-watt smile. “So he wasn’t a mass murderer, I see,” she said.
Josie turned, and her gaze locked on me. “Nope. Reid wasn’t out to get me. If he were a mass murderer, he would’ve left me for dead.”
A reluctant grin tugged at my lips. This girl…damn, she was sharp. Smart.
“Dude,” Hannah hissed.
“Actually,” Josie continued, “Reid and I have a mutual friend in Texas.”
I walked toward the street, leading our small group. I followed Josie’s brilliant story. “Yep. I was told Josie would help me settle in around here. Oh, Santos and I will follow you guys home to make sure you’re safe.”
“That’s so nice!” Hannah gushed.
Josie’s voice wasn’t nearly as cheerful. “Yeah. So nice.”
I watched the girls climb in the car as we walked to our bikes. “Bro, we’ve intercepted fourteen Oculi and we’ve never had problems,” I said. “We’ve transferred the one Anomaly and trained the others in their locations with no problems. We’
ve had no tails. We’ve changed our appearances; we’ve covered our tracks. It just so happens when we reach Josie, the most important charge in our history, we’re tracked? I don’t buy it. What if there’s a leak?” My pulse quickened as I voiced my worries.
Santos saddled up. “Agreed. This had to be done from the inside. I think we need to go off the grid. At least until she’s learned the basics. I don’t want the responsibility of transferring a newbie to the Hub, especially if she is an Anomaly like they suspect.”
Santos’s thoughts mirrored my own, but I’d needed reassurance that I wasn’t being paranoid, thinking up conspiracy theories and shit. I straddled my bike. “You think the Hub has been compromised? Because that…I wouldn’t know what to do with that.”
Santos held his helmet in front of him. “Not sure, man. But she’s too important to put her in danger. Why run the risk?”
We couldn’t run that risk. Josie was probably going to be one of the most powerful people in the world. If the Consortium got ahold of her, the rest of us Oculi were as good as dead.
5.
Josie
H
annah jabbered on and on about Santos on the way home, about how they danced and had fun together, all while I’d been discovering that our world wasn’t what it seemed. I was so preoccupied with everything else and watching the guys on their bikes following us, I really didn’t hear what she’d said.
Hannah parked in front of my house and gave me a hug. “Happy birthday.” I gave her a hard squeeze. I didn’t know what was real after the night with Reid, but I knew she was. I also didn’t know if I was going to live to see her again. For all I knew, another random guy in a ski mask would kill me in my sleep…or maybe Reid would. I wanted to trust him. The rational part of my brain knew if he’d wanted me dead, he could’ve killed me in the park. That thought kept me from freaking out, from forcing Hannah to drive me to the nearest police station—where my recital of events would either land me in jail or a psych ward.
