Free Extraordinary by Amanda McGee

events. Okay, I was still scared half to death but it was starting to get interesting.
    “No one will ever believe this,” she said with a smile that reached from ear to ear.
    “That’s why we can’t tell anyone,” I said. “It was hard enough for us to believe and we have seen it for ourselves.”
    “What about your friend, Kate?”
    “I’m relieved that she already knows some of this. As for the rest, I haven’t decided how to approach it so I just let our conversations center around you.”
    “How do you think she will react?”
    “I can usually predict Kate’s responses but this is all so science-fiction it’s hard to say for sure. But one thing I do know, there’s no way to keep it from her.”
    Sadie insisted that we continue to experiment but I knew she was still scheming to invoke a vision. Though I was curious about it myself, impending danger was something I preferred to delay at any cost.
    “You still haven’t admitted it.”
    “Admitted what?” I asked.
    “How amazing this all is.”
    “I assumed it went without saying,” I said. “I just wasn’t as keen on diving in headfirst as you were.”
    Since the day we met, our “powers” had begun to take effect. The magic nonsense wasn’t nonsense after all. The universe was filled with events that couldn’t be explained but because something was difficult to accept as truth did not mean it was false. My once healthy mother, who never even had allergies, died of cancer at the age of forty-three—sometimes there was no explanation.
    Aunt Leah said she took the information on faith. I was beginning to understand why certain occurrences couldn’t be denied even when your brain told you otherwise. Faith was trusting in something that may surpass your ability to cognitively process it.
    Nevertheless, at times, faith was present to justify your belief and, in our case, decrease panic and anxiety.
    “I thought you’d be a little bolder,” Sadie said. “No offense, but you really should lighten up.”
    Okay, that is twice she has said that .
    “Come with me,” I said, taking her hand. “I want to show you something.”
    Since we were already at the edge of the woods, I decided to share my special place with Sadie.
    We walked in silence down the trail I had frequented on a regular basis since I was a child. There was a handful of times that I’d invited a guest along—specifically, Kate—but having Sadie next to me was just as comfortable as being alone.
    I was partial to drifting around with no destination in mind. That was the point, to get away and be lost for a while.  Life was something I could not control no matter how hard I tried. This always proved contradictory to my controlling, analytical personality. These strolls were my chance to break away from the world and myself.
    “The woods? You wanted to show me the woods?”
    “I can’t even account for all the time I have spent wandering through these trees. This is one of the few places I don’t obsess over every little thing. Where I can just…be.”
    “Wonder why that is? What is it about this place that lets you relax when the rest of the world won’t?”
    “I guess because it’s something I’ve done most of my life. Mom would let me walk the trail alone even when I was little. I felt grown-up and in control and capable. She trusted that I would find my way back and I always did.”
    “Do you think that’s why she didn’t tell you about us before she died? She knew you’d find your way on your own?”
    “I don’t know if it’s that complex but it seems I didn’t know my mother very well so it’s possible.”
    An unexpected shudder ignited in my chest, rippling down my body. I sensed that someone was watching us. Not in a new super-powered way but in a normal made-the-hair-on-my-neck-stand-up way. Without a vision of approaching peril to knock me half-unconscious I was more inquisitive than troubled about the goose bumps descending the length of my