Free The Gifted by Aaron K. Redshaw

know much
of anything yet.
    Most of us were tired, so we only talked a
little. Afterwards we learned that we were given free time, but
most of the kids went back to Conditioning and Sports. These guys
had no life. Didn’t they play like normal kids?
***
    We headed back to our rooms and talked. Tracy
said she wanted to hang out with some of the girls and see if she
could find out anything more.
    Meanwhile, I played a game of chess in our
room with Guido, who borrowed a small chessboard from one of the
kids, while Han worked on some origami.
    Guido was about to take my king for the
second time, “You’ve got to take some chances if you are going to
win,” he said. “Stop trying to play it safe! You can’t win that
way.”
    “Yeah, I know,” I said. There was a knock at
the door of our room.
    I opened it and saw Abe. “Andy,” he said.
“Can I speak with you for a moment?”
    “Sure,” I said. Han looked up at me and then
went back to his folding.
    I stepped out with Abe and we walked along
the corridor. Kids were mostly in their rooms now, so it was quiet
and empty. Abe began speaking in his smooth tone of voice. “It took
me awhile to recognize it, but now I know. Andy, you are a leader.
A leader is someone who has power over other people. When he
speaks, they obey. You have that kind of gift. A gift you should
use.” Now we were at the cafeteria in dim light. We kept walking,
silent for a moment.
    “Here’s what I am proposing,” he said. “Come
be a part of our leadership here at the facility, and you and I can
double our influence. I do pretty well on my own, I won’t lie about
that.” We were in some hallway now I didn’t recognize, having taken
a few turns. “But we could be almost unstoppable if the two of us
joined our powers together. People would flock to follow us,
whether they wanted to or not. That’s the beauty of the power we
each have.” He turned the switch of a light and I saw that we were
on the stage of the auditorium where I had seen Abe speak earlier.
“I’m offering all of this to you!” He motioned toward the imaginary
audience. There must have been enough chairs for a thousand. “I can
teach you what I know so that people will hang on each word you
say. So, what do you think?”
    “Can I think about it?” I said.
    Abe looked disappointed. “Sure,” he said,
“but not too long.” He paused and looked intently at me for a
moment, and then turned and left the stage, heading back the way we
had come.
    Once he had gone, I looked out over the seats
in the auditorium and imagined everyone hanging on my words. I
imagined a crowd of people who would do anything I wanted them to
do. I thought of the respect I would get, the cheers and applause.
I thought of how I could disprove the general’s words.
    Then another thought came to me. It was a
story I had heard when I was at school. The teacher often told
Bible stories and there was one about when Jesus had been taken to
the top of some tall building or something. Satan showed him the
whole world and told him that if he just bowed down to him, he
would give Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth. All he had to do
was bow to Satan and he would get all that.
    I didn’t remember all the specifics of the
story, but I remembered Jesus didn’t go for it because it wouldn’t
be right. Because it would mean bowing to what was evil. I thought
how power was great, but what would I be sacrificing for it?
    I turned off the lights and headed back down
the hallway. Eventually I got back to my room where my roommates
were asleep. I sat up and thought about it some more until I was
too tired to think. And that’s the way I fell asleep.

Chapter 13: Things learned
    The next morning we had our jog and
breakfast. While I ate, I mostly thought of two things: what the
general had said about me not being a leader, and the offer Abe had
made the night before.
    “Did you know they have a live dragon?” said
Tracy with excitement at