A New Home (Chasing Destiny) (6 page)

Emily seemed happy as she chatted with a group of newfound friends.  Hannah wandered over to see if she could join them.  “I can’t believe she’s so full of herself.  She used to pretend her visions were scary, and now all of a sudden, she’s acting like she is going to rule the world because of them.”  Emily’s loud voice carried as Hannah approached.

Hannah stopped in her tracks feeling the tears prick her eyes.  She blinked rapidly a couple of times and turned away.  Justin was right behind her.  He’d obviously heard Emily as well.  “Who is that?” he demanded.  “We need to get someone to talk to her.  She can’t be talking about you
or anyone else that way.”

Hannah shook her head, grabbing Justin’s hand to pull him away from the crowd.  “It’s my sister,” she said softly.  “She’s made it clear all along she thinks I’m doing this for attention, and she doesn’t want to be here.  She thinks she should have been allowed to stay with friends.”  She brushed an angry tear off her cheek.  “She doesn’t realize what Mom and Dad are giving up to make sure we both have a chance to live.”

Justin casually draped an arm over her shoulders.  “I’m sorry.  I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I heard my brother talking about me like that.”

Hannah sighed.  “She’s always hated the fact that my visions made me the center of attention.  I mean, I’ve always had them.  I had the first one when I was two and saw my grandfather die, just before the police arrived to tell my mom.  I was hysterical when the police got there, screaming my grandpa was dead.”  She kicked at a stick on the ground.  “Emily was adopted a couple of months after that, so she’s always grown up with the knowledge that I could see things.  You’d think she’d be used to it.”

“She’s adopted?” he asked. 

“We both are.  Her birth mom has always been part of the equation.  Mine disappeared right after I was born never to be seen again.”
  She looked over her shoulder at Emily still holding court with her new friends as if she was some sort of princess.  Emily may hate her for having to come here, but she was definitely making the most out of having a famous sister.  “Supposedly, my birth mom took one look at my adopted mom’s picture and said she had to be the one to adopt me.  My parents had just finished filling out their initial paperwork.  They hadn’t even done their home study yet, but they rushed through everything.  It was the shortest wait in history for a newborn.”

“So did your
birth
mom have visions too?”

“You know as much as I do about her.  I’m guessing she did…or at least knew somehow my mom needed to be the one to get me.”  She sighed.  “I’m really close to my parents.  I’m glad I was adopted.  I just wish my sister didn’t resent me so much.”

They kept walking away from the others down to a stream that cut through the property.  There were multiple streams and even a small lake.  Hannah wished she had her bathing suit.  Swimming would clear her mind in a way nothing else could.  “I wish we had a swimming pool here.”

“Why not build one?” he asked.  “It could be part of the community center.  I mean, I know it’s not a necessity, but I think all of us would love to be able to swim on occasion.”

She shrugged.  “I’d feel selfish even asking for one.  I love swimming.  I had to quit the swim team this summer so we could search for all the families.”

“You’ve given up a lot to be here,” he said.

“We all have.”  She looked at him in the fading light of the evening.  “Can I tell you a secret?”
  She had to tell someone how she was feeling, and she had become closer to him than anyone else there.

He nodded.  “Of course.  I won’t tell anyone.”

“Sometimes I wish I’d never told anyone about this place.  About what’s going to happen.  I wish I’d just gone on and pretended to know nothing about the future.”  She stared off over his shoulder, unable to meet his gaze.  “I just want to go home and swim and be a kid.  I don’t want to be this prophet who changes the course of history.”
  She sucked in a breath.  “I just want to be a girl.”

He hugged her tightly.  “I know.  I could see that in you the day we met.”  He was tall, almost a head taller than she was, and dropped a kiss on top of her head.  “
Wanna
know my secret?”

She nodded, loving the feel of his arms around her.  She was glad they were already such good friends. 

He grinned.  “I love knowing I’m going to be the leader of this group.  I love knowing I’ll have a huge part in changing history.  I’m so happy to be in this situation, I can’t even express it.  I was doing really bad in school.  I was a screw-up in every way.  Here?  I’m
going to make
a difference.”

She grinned up at him.  “I’m glad you’re happy here.  I know I’ll get there.  I’m just overwhelmed by it all, I think.”

They walked back toward the rest of the group.  “Your mom would have a cow if she saw us so far from everyone else.”  He stretched his arms above his head.  “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”
She looked toward him waiting.

“About your visions?”

She nodded.  “I guess.”
  She was willing to tell him more of it than she told the others, but not everything, of course.

“Do you know who pairs up?  I mean, I know it won’t happen for a while yet, but do you know who you marry?  Who I marry?”  His eyes burned into hers as he asked the question.

She nodded.  “I don’t know for everyone, but I know who I marry and who you marry.”

“Do we end up together?  I know that sounds like a silly question, but since the moment I met you, I felt this strange….affinity toward you.  I felt like we were meant to be together.”

She nodded.  “I know what you mean.”
  She blushed as she looked down at her feet kicking the dirt.

“So?”

“Yeah, we’re supposed to get married.  Things could change, of course.  Nothing is written in stone, but I think we’re going to end up together.”
  She paused.  “Does that bother you?”

He
shook his head
.  “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“I’m glad
you’re okay with it
.”

“Why
wouldn’t I be?
”  He couldn’t believe she’d be afraid of that.  She was saving the entire human race, and she was unsure of herself.  How could that be?

She shrugged.  “The others kind of shy away from me.  Not the grown-ups, the other kids.  They act like I’m some kind of freak.  I wouldn’t want you to think you were going to be stuck with a freak for the rest of your life.”

He grabbed her hand to stop her before they reached the others.  “You’re not a freak.  A freak would have had the visions and kept them to herself.  A freak wouldn’t have cared about anyone but herself.  You are anything but a freak.  I admire you.  I know someday, I’m going to love you.”

She smiled. 
I think I already love you, she thought.

“Promise me you won’t worry about the others.  We’ll all work together to make this place thrive.  Who care
s
what they think?”

She smiled.  “I do, but I wish I didn’t.”

He squeezed her hand tightly.  “So who are you going to work with tomorrow afternoon?”

She grinned.  “Well, I’m not going to wash dishes again, that’s for sure.  Maybe I’ll spend the day with the general.  I want to talk to him about our defensive needs.”

“So we will be attacked?”

She shrugged.  “I don’t want to tell you too much.  I may change the outcome.”

He stared down into her eyes.  “Hannah, I need to know.  I will never tell anyone what you tell me without your permission.  You can’t keep it all inside.  Have you told anyone?”

She shook her head.  “I’ve been trying to keep everyone on a need to know basis.”

“So how much have you not mentioned?”

She looked into his eyes, the pain of the world reflected in hers.  “Too much to say.”

He nodded.  “Okay, but tell the general about any attack
s
you see.  Tell everyone what they need to know.  Don’t keep it all inside.  You don’t have to tell any one person everything, but you do need to tell what each person needs to know.”

She sighed.  “I’m working on it.  I’ll go to the general tomorrow.  I wish I could just do an apprenticeship like everyone else, but I can’t.  I know I can’t.”

“Don’t worry.  Together, we can do it all.”

Hannah let out a loud groan as the alarm went off the following morning.  Her muscle aches had muscle aches.  She wanted to cry she hurt so much, but knew she needed to set an example.  She couldn’t even complain there in her family’s trailer, because Emily was just waiting to pounce on anything negative she said.

At breakfast, Emily complained non-stop.  She hated training.  She hated living in a world Hannah created.  She hated Hannah.  She hated the wilderness.  She hated everyone and everything and wanted to go live with her best friend back home.

Leah sighed and shook her head.  “You’re not going anywhere.  And you’re going to improve your attitude before you get kicked out.  Do you understand?”

Emily ate her last bite of scrambled eggs and pushed her plate away.  “They told us yesterday this isn’t a prison.  We’re welcome to leave.”

“
You
are not welcome to leave.  You have to stay here and smile.  Our family has invested way too much time and effort into this to give up now.  And I’m not willing to give up on your life or let you give up on your life.  Is that understood?”  Leah looked at her younger daughter sternly.

“I miss my friends,” Emily sulked.

Hannah turned toward her sister.  “Em, I miss my friends too.  I didn’t want to come either.  But I needed to, and we need you here.  You’re going to play a huge role in our community.”
  Her voice was pleading with her sister to understand and accept.

“Whatever.  You know this whole place revolves around you.  That’s why you like it here.”

Hannah sighed.  “Haven’t you figured out I hate being the center of attention?  I’d rather go hide under a rock somewhere. 
You’re the one who likes to have people fawning over you.  If I could give you my visions, I’d happily slip away into the background.”

“I wish you could.  You’re the only thing the other kids talk about.”

Hannah squeezed her sister’s hand.  “I’m sorry, Em.  I really wish I could change it.  I’d go back in time and not have the vision in a heartbeat.  Then we could
stay in
Texas.”

Emily looked at her considering.  “It actually makes me feel better to know you hate it, too.”

Hannah grinned.  “That’s my sister.  As long as I’m miserable all is right with her world.”
  She breathed a sigh of relief.  She’d finally broken through her sister’s funk.

Emily rolled her eyes.  “Whatever.”

They walked together to the morning training session.  “My legs are going to fall off if he makes us run for an hour again,” Emily whispered.

“He’s going to make us run.  Just stretch good before and after.  This first week will be the hardest.”  She bent over from the waist and touched her palms flat to the ground.

Emily groaned.  “At least you swim.  I’m a couch potato an
d
proud of it.  I hate exercise!”  She went down into a lunge, stretching out her legs.

“I know.  I don’t like running, but it’s for the future of our planet.  One long run for us, one short step for mankind?” 

“You keep joking about it, and I’ll run back to the trailer and tell Mom I died.”

“She won’t believe you.”

The general stood up in front of everyone.  “We’re running again this morning.  I hope you stretched.”  He pointed toward the stream. 
“
Go.”

Hannah ran in the direction he’d pointed, groaning mentally, but not letting her feelings show.  She felt a lot better after her talk with Emily.  Maybe things would be better with her sister now.

Justin caught up with her and they led the others.  “Do you run for fun?” she asked him.

“No, but I play basketball and the coach made us run every day after school.”

“Ahh.  That makes sense then.”  They didn’t say anything else.  Both concentrated on their breathing as they ran and ran.

Finally, the general allowed them to turn an
d
head back.  Justin and Hannah were the first two back, and Hannah immediately stretched out her muscles.  When she felt limber enough, she walked to the general who was watching as the last of the kids ran across the line.  Despite Emily’s protests, she was right in the middle of the pack.  Hannah smiled, glad her sister wasn’t as bad at running as she thought she was.

“General?” she said softly.

“Yeah.”  He looked to see who it was and smiled at Hannah.  “You’re a good runner, kid.”

She shrugged.  “I’m a better swimmer.”  She took a deep breath.  She couldn’t believe how much this man intimidated her now they were in Idaho.  “I was wondering if I could shadow you this afternoon.  There are a few things I want to point out about our defenses and where the attack will come from.”  She said the last part in a low voice, not wanting any of the others to hear.