The first time she realized what could happen to people when they touched her was the first time she was afraid. Truly afraid. Not for her own well-being, but for the lack of possibilities for her future.
She could never fall in love or have a family of her own. It had taken a year for that news to sink in. In that time, she’d acted out. Everyone had called her a spoiled child.
But she’d learned that it took too much energy to act out. She’d grown bored of the games. Of outwitting her captors. Which is what each and every one of them was to her.
They’d forced her to go to school. The last time she’d learned something new in school was when she’d stumbled across a bully that was bigger than she was. Not that she’d gotten hurt—nothing could physically harm her. But the bully had used other tactics, had gone after emotional weaknesses that Selene believed she had quashed years prior.
Selene wasn’t proud of her looks. She knew what she looked like dressed in hand-me-downs with more holes in them than a wiffle ball.
Her jet-black hair had been cut to the scalp almost a year before by one of the women she’d been staying with. Now, it had grown to just past her chin. But it hadn’t been trimmed and was all different lengths and stood up in places.
She was skinny. Really skinny. Like those kids she’d seen pictures of third-world countries. She didn’t have kwashiorkor, which caused the swollen belly in those kids. Instead, she could see each and every one of her ribs. Sometimes she even placed a finger or two between the protruding bones.
Her face was long and square somehow. Her eyes too big, too dark. She couldn’t even distinguish between the irises and the pupils when she looked in the mirror. This was another reason people did not like her. One man had claimed he could see all of his past sins in her eyes.
When he’d tried to touch her at night, he’d ended up on the floor in a fit of vomit. She was thankful when she’d been moved to another home.
Being bullied about her appearance had shamed her more than anything else could have. She wanted to be pretty more than she wanted to be smart. Why? She didn’t know.
Maybe it was because everywhere she looked, people were striving to be beautiful. Maybe because it was the one thing she couldn’t control. Being bullied about it caused her to cry for the first time in her life that she could remember.
The social worker banged on the door to the trailer again. “Hello? Mr. Logan.”
Selene could tell the woman was getting desperate.
Just then the door was yanked open. Instead of there being an adult on the other side, it was a boy roughly her own age. He was a lot taller than her and had more muscles than she did. He was wearing white underwear and nothing else. The kid’s blond hair was longer than hers and stuck out all over the place in a mess of curls.
Selene held her breath. Something deep inside her shifted. Something new formed in her soul. For the first time in her life, she felt a need to connect with someone else.
The boy looked at the social worker and then at Selene. Then he turned and yelled, “Dad! We got another one.”
CHAPTERONE
Ten years later…
There was no way she was going back. Selene knew her worth. Knew that she was smarter than anyone else at the party. For good measure, she threw up her middle finger as a ton of drunk kids watched her from the bonfire.
This was the last time she’d allow Scott to convince her to tag along with him, she told herself as she stomped away. She didn’t need friends. Didn’t need anyone else to solidify her worth on this stupid planet.
She kept telling herself that as she marched past the row of cars. She needed movement. Needed speed.
She was so preoccupied with her anger that she forgot to make sure the coast was clear before taking off into the night sky. The cool wind on her face, tangling her long jet-black hair, took that anger down a notch. Closing her eyes, she went beyond the layer of clouds that hovered just above the lake where the group of friends, none of them hers, had partied each weekend for the past few months.
Tonight, she’d been a tagalong. Thanks, Scott. She was his plus one. She was the poster child for girls that need help making friends. Well, this was the last time she’d allow him to talk her into anything.
The moment she had stepped foot in the ring of firelight earlier, she knew she’d made a mistake.
Scott had let Cristy pull him into the darkness near the water’s edge while his “friends” had done their worst. These weren’t her people. Would never be. She should have never dreamed she could fit in. Anywhere.
Almost half an hour later, she softly touched down, her toes landing in the exact same spot she’d pushed off from. Her heart still ached from the rejection, but her emotions were finally back under control.
“What in the hell, Selene,” someone said behind her. She jerked around.
Scott stood exactly where she’d left from half an hour earlier, his arms crossed over his chest and a look on his face that told her she was in deep trouble.
She wasn’t concerned that he’d seen her fly. After all, he’d been there when she’d discovered that particular power. He’d also been there when she’d discovered all the other odd things about herself. He knew everything about her. Every odd little detail of who she was.
“It’s almost your birthday, and I thought you’d want to hang. Instead, you take off.” He motioned to the sky.