The Gift

Chapter 96

Wisty

As totally screwed up as the past hour was-from my mom and dad's deeply disturbing message, to battling hurricane gales, to the utterly unforgettable experience of Byron Swain embracing, absorbing, breathing in my fire-I still leave the building feeling inexplicably powerful. I'm learning something about myself, even though it's not clear what it is and why The One wants it so badly.

As soon as Whit and I get outside Mrs. H.'s building, there's an incredible windstorm, which can only mean One thing. And you know what? I'm not even that surprised anymore. He is, I hate to say, omnipresent.

I whirl around to face him, as if this is a gunfight. The One is slowly walking up the abandoned street toward us. "This is the grand finale, children of Allgood!" he calls out in warning, which seems unusually fair of him.

"I've given that wretched informant more than enough chances," he continues as he calmly marches forward. "I said that if he failed in his mission, he would be made to suffer-by watching you die slowly and painfully by my hand.

"But since I'm nothing if not evenhanded, one final test. This will be a pass-fail for you and your brother. Maybe the two of you survive, maybe one, probably none. Are you ready, children?" He doesn't wait for an answer. "Then let us begin!"

He stomps the ground with his foot, and an enormous crevasse opens wide and starts racing down the middle of the street, headed right for us.

"I control the earth!" he yells at the top of his lungs. "True or false?"

Whit takes my hand and squeezes. It's amazing how much a little human touch can do. It gives me the boost I need. "We could fly?" I say.

"Worth a try. Focus, now. We can do this."

It's about the fastest morph I've ever done-double-morph, to be exact-and in an instant Whit and I are aloft. Becoming hawks requires a lot more energy than changing into hummingbirds, but I'm filled with a charge and I really let loose. The rush is amazing. Usually The One's very presence is magic-crushing, but right now I feel we're unbeatable as we start pumping our wings triumphantly above the city.

But it's only for about two hundred yards-until a wall of wind hits. We try to catch it and ride it, but the sheer power and force send us careening sideways and then downward.

"I control the wind, the air!" The One bellows. "True or false?"

Whit and I are nearly thrown into one side of a brick-faced office building. But before I have a chance to panic, I've managed to turn us into the first animal I can think of with protective armor: an armadillo. Two of them. We curl up into armored balls and safely bounce off the wall-which, by the way, still hurts-and then we roll down onto the street.

But another huge chasm opens in front of us, accompanied by the roar of the angry One.

"I control the cities and the streets. True or false? I'll give you a hint-that statement is true."

The roadway suddenly explodes into shafts of rock metamorphosing instantly into shimmering crystal, sending razor-sharp shrapnel in all directions. If Whit and I aren't off the ground in a second, we're going to be sliced into nothing.

We leap harder and higher, until I feel not only wings but paws. We're part lion, part bird… the legendary griffin of folklore.

We can transform ourselves into the stuff of imagination?

There are no words for that mind-boggling realization. But it's forgotten in an instant when the spot where we'd just been explodes with a thundering crack. The two buildings on either side of the street collapse. A shock wave and a blast of dust rise after us and send us spinning.

It's dizzying to body and mind. Our power is pretty good, but his is unbelievably overwhelming. Why is he so powerful? Who could control nature like this?

I have a terrible, terrible thought.

Maybe he's God?

There he is. So much larger than life, arms outstretched, eyes locked on us, dark suit impeccable. His mouth works furiously as he summons what appears to be a typhoon out of the sky, spinning toward us.

The herculean-force wind and rain pummeling our wings is too much for them to bear, and we plunge toward the water of the harbor below.

"Extra-credit question!" screams The One. "Who controls the water, the oceans, the rivers, the seas? Oops, time's up. Pens down. I do!"