Free Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

knowing smile. “You didn’t let history deter you. I commend you for that.”
    He gave my shoulder a squeeze and walked off.
    “Wow,” said Isabel, peering at me through her navy frames. “My older brother was a Hexa, and my dad acted like that was a big deal.” She and the other girl had been ignoring me before, but now they regarded me with a mix of curiosity and reverence. Hershey’s gaze was sharper than that. She was stuck on the history comment, trying to figure out what it meant.
    So was I.
    “Yeah, most Theden kids are Pentas,” Liam said, a slight edge in his voice that hadn’t been there before. “An aptitude for five.” I guessed by his attitude that Liam was a Hexa. An aptitude for six.
    The table was quiet for a few seconds. All eyes still on me.
    Then Hershey pushed back her chair and stood up. “I’ll see you guys later,” she said, then turned and sauntered out. Liam watched her go.
    The other girl, Rachel, rolled her eyes at Hershey’s retreating figure. “Envy is so public school,” she said. “I, for one, think it’s cool that you’re a Hepta.” Her smile seemed genuine, so I returned it.
    “Thanks,” I said. “I’m not sure I understand what it means, or why it—”
    Liam cut me off. “It means you were born for this.”
    “Born for what?” I asked.
    He looked at me like the answer was obvious. “For greatness,” he said.
     
    I left lunch even more determined to silence the Doubt. If I was a Hepta, then surely my brain was capable of overriding whatever little synaptic misfire was causing me to hear it in the first place.
    “I need caffeine,” I told Lux as I made my way across the courtyard after my last class. The fact that it was the first day of school hadn’t stopped my teachers from piling on the homework.
    “The coffee cart in the dining hall is open until nine,” came Lux’s reply. Instantly its recommendations popped on screen, a vanilla cappuccino at the top of the list. But the line for the coffee cart already was spilling out onto the dining hall steps. I slipped my phone in my bag and started toward it, then stopped. I could get downtown and back in the time it would take to wait for my drink. Plus, I’d avoid having to make small talk with the perfectly nice but painfully chatty girls from my history class who were clustered at the end of the line.
    I set off for River City Beans, the place Lux had recommended the day before. What I really wanted was that matcha concoction I’d had at Paradiso, but there was no way I was showing up there two days in a row. Or giving North the satisfaction of ordering his drink.
    I skipped the cemetery this time, taking the street route instead, through a quiet residential neighborhood and across a natural footbridge that traversed the narrow part of the river. The wind picked up, rustling the trees, and I shivered, wishing I’d brought a sweater. As I turned down Main Street, the sun disappeared behind a blue-black cloud. There were several more rolling in across the mountains, darkening the sky. It rained all the time in Seattle, but we didn’t get thunderstorms like this.
    I was looking over my shoulder at the clouds as I reached for the door handle at River City Beans and gave it a tug. The door didn’t budge.
    CLOSED ON MONDAYS read the sign on the window.
    So much for trusting yesterday’s advice.
    For a second I debated heading back to campus before the storm, but as the sky lit up with lightning, I decided against it. Paradiso was just two blocks down, and I could tell from here that its lights were on. I’d wait it out there.
    As I pushed open the door, I saw North working the espresso machine. At the jingle of the bell, he looked up. My eyes fell to my feet, feeling silly for being there, for coming alone.
    “Hey,” North called. “Couldn’t stay away?” When I lifted my gaze to meet his, he smiled. His whole face changed when he did. His eyes were dancing a little, and there was no trace of