Free The Deviant Underground (Time Bandit) by Elisabeth Roseland

only knows where. There was the time that she found herself in the alley, and then there was the time when she reappeared in the middle of the street and almost got hit by a car. Even when she just ended up in the adjacent room, she landed on her ass. Please no, not in front of them. Not now , she silently begged. She closed her eyes and focused on the sound of her pounding heart, trying to slow it down. After what felt like several minutes, the peculiar feeling slowly began to go away. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
    “You have a great gift, you know.” At the sound of Susan’s voice, her eyes popped open.
    “What?”
    “Your gift,” she almost sounded in awe, “is amazing.”
    “It’s not a gift!” Kathryn snapped back, instantly horrified at what she had said. My god, what have I done? Charge gripped her hand passionately.
    “It is a gift.” His eyes flashed. “You have an extraordinary power. I’ve never met anyone who can do what you do.”
    “How . . .?” Kathryn’s voice trailed off. She didn’t even know what question to ask or how to phrase it.
    Susan spoke her question for her. “How did we know about you?” She smiled. “We’ve known about you for a while now. We have a friend whose gift is to be able to tell who’s special and what special gifts that person possesses. She told us about you.”
    Kathryn could tell from Charge’s face that Susan was telling the truth, but her statement raised more complicated questions. Before she could begin to formulate one, Charge said, “Can you show us, baby?”
    Kathryn raised her eyebrows. “Show you what?”
    Charge chuckled. “I mean, we know you did it in the kitchen, but we kind of missed the whole thing.” He eagerly sat back on the couch. “So show us again.”
    “I can’t . . .” Kathryn let the shaking of her head finish the rest of the sentence.
    “Sure you can,” Susan encouraged her. She then got up and went into the kitchen. She returned with the vase full of tulips. As soon as she walked into the middle of the room, she dropped it.
    Kathryn gasped at the unexpected move, and the entire room froze—Susan and Charge included. Instead of panicking this time, Kathryn took a moment to digest what was happening. It was clear that they knew about her. And it was also clear that they, themselves, were also different in some way. Is it possible that the two people who I care about the most are also like me? Kathryn’s mind reeled at the thought. She put fear aside for a moment and calmly stood up, plucked the vase out of the air, and unfroze the room.
    Susan jumped to see Kathryn standing next to her. Charge had been looking at Kathryn when Susan dropped the vase. Now he was staring at an empty spot on the couch, and his neck snapped around the room before his gaze settled on her. A huge grin lit up his face. “Aw, man. We missed it again.”
    Susan took the vase out of Kathryn’s hands again. “Just freeze the vase,” she instructed. “Not us.”
    Kathryn looked at her before making a brave statement. “I can’t control it like that,” she said quietly. “Sometimes it's just one thing. Sometimes it's everything.”
    Charge jumped off the couch. “You can do it. Just focus.”
    “Focus on what?”
    “Focus on the vase.” He took the vase from Susan and held it up toward the ceiling. “This will give you a little more time. I’m going to drop it in three. Are you ready?”
    Kathryn took a deep breath. She didn’t know why she was playing this game, but both Charge and Susan seemed eager to play it. “Okay.”
    “One . . . two . . . three.” Charge let the vase go.
    Kathryn followed it with her eyes and concentrated. The words, “just the vase” echoed in her head. A few inches before hitting the floor, the vase stopped.
    Charge and Susan stood in awe, their mouths open. They were so still that for a moment, Kathryn feared she had frozen them again. Susan broke the silence. “Wow,” she whispered.
    “That was